Erik and Lyle Menéndez’s family is asking that the Los Angeles County District Office be withdrawn from the brothers’ case, claiming that the use of a graphic photo at a judicial hearing on Friday caused the aunt of the brothers to be hospitalized.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition: “An initiative led by the family that advocates the release of Erik and Lyle Menéndez”: the family asked the district prosecutor’s office to take responsibility for what he called “a disturbing and imprudent decision” during the audience they said “has had a detrimental impact on the family of the victims.”
“In the open court, and without any prior warning, prosecutors showed an unworthy graphic image of the lifeless body of José Menéndez, an act that retraumatized family members and led to the hospitalization of José’s 85 -year -old sister of José, Terry Baralt, who is now in critical condition,” said the statement.
The exact reason for Baral’s hospitalization was not clear immediately.
“Terry, who is fighting cancer, came to court to keep his family. No physical pain has prevented him from being there for his nephews,” said the family statement. “But the exhibition presented by the prosecutor’s office pushed her beyond the edge. At the beginning of this morning, she was urgently taken to the hospital and remains critical.”
The family said that the use of the photo by the DA was a violation of Marsy’s law, which gives victims the right to justice, respect and dignity, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of California.
The family said they are taking formal measures to eliminate the prosecutor’s office, but did not provide details. The family added that the office is “unable to handle this process with equity, care or neutrality required by law.”
In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said prosecutors had no intention of “causing anguish or pain” to the people who attended the hearing.
He added that he has described the actions of the brothers in public documents and that no one has opposed to describe their behaviors orally, or, he said, no one was opposed when the images of the crime scene were shown in a recent Netflix documentary.
“To the extent that the photographic representation of this conduct would alter any of the members of the Menéndez family present in the Court, we apologize for not previously noticing that the conduct would be described in detail not only in words but also through a photo of the crime scene,” said the prosecutor’s office.
Friday’s judicial hearing in southern California was related to the resentment efforts of the brothers.
At the hearing, the Judge of the Superior Court of the Los Angeles County, Michael Jesus, cleared the way for a legal process to determine if the brothers should be forwarded by the murders of their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989.
Jesus denied a motion from the Nathan Hochman district prosecutor’s office that asked the Court to withdraw the recommendation of former District Prosecutor George Gascón to reduce Menéndezes prison sentences of life without the possibility of probation for 50 years.
If Jesus approved the recommendation of Gascón, the brothers, who have turned 35 for the murders of José and Kitty Menéndez, could be eligible for probation immediately.
Baralt spoke on Thursday for the first time in decades, telling ABC News that Erik and Lyle Menéndez “are like the children he did not have.”
“It’s time for 35 years to be a long time,” he said. “It is a complete branch of my erased family. Those who have left and those who are still paying for her, who were children.”
She said that although she tries to visit as often as possible, she lives in New Jersey and the brothers are imprisoned in San Diego.
“When the children are young and come to you, you solve the problem. I can’t help them … there is nothing I can do, I just go to visit them and cry when I leave,” he told Abc News.
Baralt also said she is worried that she did not live to see her nephews released from the prison.
