Erik & Lyle Menendez’s Family Testify in Resentencing Hearing

Tuesday was day 1 of Erik and Lyle Menendez’s resentencing hearing.

Erik and Lyle appeared in the court room virtually to watch their attorneys argue for a lighter sentence for the 1989 gruesome double homicide of their parents José and Kitty Menendez. 

During the hearing, three family members of Erik and Lyle took the stand to try and convince the court that they have “taken accountability” for the murder.

Their cousin Anamaria Baralt said, “They feel terrible about it.” 

“We believe that 35 years is enough,” Baralt emphasized. “They are universally forgiven by our family. They deserve a second chance at life.”

Baralt brought up the brothers’ involvement in prison rehabilitation projects, saying, “They are incredible people. The work they have done has been inspiring and I hope they have a chance to inspire the world… They are not the same people they were 35 years ago.”

According to Baralt, the family has been faced with “relentless attention” from the high-profile case. 

She stressed, “It’s been torture for decades to live this out in the public eye. To be the butt of every joke on ‘SNL’ since [the trial] happened.”

Their cousin Tamara Goodell noted that Erik and Lyle “have made every possible effort to rehabilitate themselves… They now see the world through 35 years of healing. They have created careers for themselves in prison.”

Kitty’s niece Diane Hernandez described the brothers as “remarkable human beings,” adding, “There is absolutely no chance that they would break the law [if released]. Their only desire is to do good.”

Tomorrow, the judge is expected to rule on the controversial resentencing, which Los Angeles DA Nathan Hochman opposes. 

In April, Hochman told the press outside the courthouse, “The Menendez brothers, for the past 30 years, have not come clean.”

L.A. DA Hochman said that the brothers have repeated lie after lie for decades.