Menendez Brothers Resentenced: Eligible For Parole

[Frank Drebin 5655]

On 10/25/2024 at 7:26 PM, Chopper said:

and they murdered your wife, too?

and when they were a bit younger they were into burgling homes?

They don't strike me as people with remorse.

[C-Man 27185]

I don't have strong opinions one way or the other on this one. Personally, if the sex abuse shit was knowingly not allowed back during their previous trials, at a bare min they likely deserve a new trial. And that probably leads to a conviction again with a sentence that is probably already -- or close to -- time served and they get out.

Far more distressing is Ken Paxton/Gerg Abbott's crusade to put to now fast-track the death penalty for the guy in Texas who was convicted of "shaken baby" syndrome that led to his daughter's death.

[tbone_ 14110]

Watched the Netflix doc last night.

If all of that abuse shit is true, holy shit. That dad was a fucking monster and got exactly what he deserved.

And I could 100% see how a lifetime of brainwashing from that asshole could lead to believing you could never escape.

[jdhorn92 1545]

5 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Watched the Netflix doc last night.

If all of that abuse shit is true, holy shit. That dad was a fucking monster and got exactly what he deserved.

And I could 100% see how a lifetime of brainwashing from that asshole could lead to believing you could never escape.

Refresh my memory, why wasn't the abuse information/allegation/defense allowed in the 2nd trial?  IIRC, the one brother went and did an interview for a book he was writing and he stated in those taped interviews that he made it all up...all the abuse.  So even his defense knew it was all bs.

[TwiceHorn 31438]

6 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Refresh my memory, why wasn't the abuse information/allegation/defense allowed in the 2nd trial?  IIRC, the one brother went and did an interview for a book he was writing and he stated in those taped interviews that he made it all up...all the abuse.  So even his defense knew it was all bs.

Because mental duress is not a defense to criminal liability unless it impairs or destroys the defendant's ability to know right from wrong.

Depending on California's murder statute, if not "remote" from the killings, could be offered as a provocation ("heat of passion") to reduce the "level" of the offense, but in this case was too remote.

Mental duress is always relevant during sentencing, however.

ETA:  Evidence of abuse came in in both trials, just less of it in the second, both times under a "heat of passion"/imminent danger theory.

It was the same judge in both cases, but he decided that the first trial was too much of a zoo, leading to the mistrial and rode herd on the retrial.

 

Edited October 30 by TwiceHorn

[Dilligas 666]

[MrBig 5381]

10 hours ago, Frank Drebin said:

This is all I think about when I see footage of them in court but it’s hard to explain to people who haven’t seen the movie. 

[aggie08 21485]

20 minutes ago, MrBig said:

 

Nm

Edited October 30 by aggie08

[dieucla98 2942]

Both brothers have been model inmates as well. 

Quote

They also say that the brothers, now in their 50s, are model prisoners who have committed themselves to rehabilitation and redemption.

Both point to the brothers’ years of efforts to improve the San Diego prison where they have lived for six years. Before that, the two had been held in separate prisons since 1996.

In 2018, Lyle Menendez launched the beautification program, Green Space, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. His brother, Erik Menendez, is the lead painter for a massive mural that depicts San Diego landmarks.

 

https://apnews.com/article/menendez-brothers-nordic-prisons-9b38364e1d70500fd99cedbbb0bf20cd

[tbone_ 14110]

Refresh my memory, why wasn't the abuse information/allegation/defense allowed in the 2nd trial?  IIRC, the one brother went and did an interview for a book he was writing and he stated in those taped interviews that he made it all up...all the abuse.  So even his defense knew it was all bs.

The doc suggested, mostly by interviews with the jurors in the first trial, that the sexual abuse testimony was what deadlocked the jury because they couldn’t agree on what the conviction should be - one thing if you believed the abuse was a factor in the crime and a harsher thing if you didn’t. They deliberated for over a month and couldn’t break the deadlock.

In the second trial the doc made it seem like the judge really wanted an outcome so he decided, differently from the first trial, to not allow the abuse testimony. The second jury only deliberated for a couple of hours IIRC.

Hard to know for sure if the slant of the doc was accurate, but def made it look highly suspicious.

[4th&Five 41510]

In the doc the prosecutor says they couldn’t find a single person to say the dad was anything but a terrible piece of shit. She even said the world is a better place with him gone. Pretty wild from the prosecution.