logo
Menendez Brothers' Family ‘Grateful' to Gavin Newsom for Seeking Risk Assessment Ahead of Clemency Decision

Menendez Brothers' Family ‘Grateful' to Gavin Newsom for Seeking Risk Assessment Ahead of Clemency Decision

Yahoo28-02-2025

Cousins of Erik and Lyle Menendez said Thursday they are 'grateful' to Gov. Gavin Newsom and 'thrilled' that he asked the state parole board for a risk assessment, as he considers whether to grant the brothers clemency.
The cousins, Anamaria Baralt and Tamara Goodell, held a Zoom press conference Thursday to discuss developments in the brothers' case.
More from Variety
Los Angeles D.A. Opposes Menendez Brothers' Bid for New Trial, Citing 'Lies and Deceit'
Los Angeles D.A. Meets With Menendez Family as He Weighs Brothers' Case
California Production Coalition Launches as Studios Ramp Up Efforts to Boost State Tax Credits
They also said it was 'hurtful' to see Los Angeles D.A. Nathan Hochman's presentation last week, in which he cited a history of 'lies and deceit' in explaining why he opposes a new trial.
The Menendez brothers have served 35 years in prison for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty. They are serving life without the possibility of parole. In recent months, their relatives have stepped up efforts to secure their release, arguing their brains were affected by years of childhood sexual abuse, and that their good works in prison show they have been rehabilitated.
On Wednesday, Newsom discussed the Menendez case in a trailer for his new personal podcast, 'This Is Gavin Newsom,' a product of iHeartPodcasts. Promising that the podcast 'may even break some news,' he said he had requested the investigation of whether the brothers pose a threat to public safety.
The governor did not give an indication of whether he is inclined to grant clemency to the brothers, though he said the investigation is part of a due diligence effort.
'We're incredibly grateful that Gov. Newsom is paying attention to this case,' Baralt said Thursday. 'For our family, it is a huge sigh of relief that someone in a seat of power is paying attention.'
The Menendez brothers are due to have a resentencing hearing on March 20-21 in Los Angeles Superior Court in Van Nuys. The hearing was requested by D.A. George Gascón, who was defeated by Hochman in November.
Hochman has yet to say whether his office is still committed to the request, which would lower the brothers' sentences to 50 years to life and make them immediately eligible for parole.
But last week, Hochman did say he opposes the brothers' habeas corpus petition for a new trial. The brothers' appellate lawyers filed the petition in 2023, arguing that new evidence had come to light that substantiated their claims of abuse.
Hochman cast doubt on that evidence in lengthy presentation, as well as in a companion video and an 87-page 'informal response.' He argued that the claims are part of a 'continuum of lies' that the brothers have told since the night of the murders.
'What we heard from the L.A. District Attorney's office felt very disparaging,' Goodell said Thursday. 'It felt like a continuation of the narrative from 1989. It was very frustrating.'
Baralt said the feelings were amplified because she and dozens of other family members had met in January with Hochman, and shared their anguish about how the case has unfolded over the last several decades.
'It felt really hurtful to a lot of us,' she said.
Shortly after taking office in December, Hochman transferred the two deputies — Brock Lunsford and Nancy Theberge — who had handled the Menendez case under Gascón. Baralt said that both deputies had been 'tremendous' and 'supportive' and were 'very well informed about trauma.'
Goodell also said the family's relationship is 'completely different' with Hochman, compared to Gascón, saying Gascón 'seemed much more open to modern thought processes.'
Hochman is expected to announce his position on resentencing in about two weeks.
Newsom discussed the Menendez case on 'Politickin',' his other iHeart podcast, which he co-hosts with retired Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch and sports agent Doug Hendrickson.
In a November episode, he said he would hold off on a clemency decision to allow Hochman — who had just defeated Gascón handily — an opportunity to review the case.
'It's the right thing to do — to hear from the new D.A. — before I make any decisions,' Newsom said. 'That's something, by the way, I haven't said publicly, but I think is important under the circumstance, out of respect not just to him, the new incoming D.A., but those that elected him rather overwhelmingly in Los Angeles.'
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win?
What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Appeals court denies Bob Menendez's bid to stay out of prison
Appeals court denies Bob Menendez's bid to stay out of prison

The Hill

timean hour ago

  • The Hill

Appeals court denies Bob Menendez's bid to stay out of prison

A federal appeals court on Wednesday denied former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)'s last-ditch bid to avoid reporting to prison while he appeals his corruption conviction. In a terse order that offered no reasoning, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 2-1 against Menendez. Judge Alison Nathan, an appointee of former President Biden, would have ruled in the New Jersey Democrat's favor. The decision lays the groundwork for Menendez to take his ask to the Supreme Court. But the clock is ticking, as he's set to report to prison on Tuesday to begin his 11-year sentence for trading bribes for political favors and other crimes. Menendez was convicted last year on 16 corruption charges, including accepting luxurious bribes with his wife, Nadine Menendez, from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for his political clout and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. It made him the first public official ever convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office. Nadine Menendez was convicted on all counts she faced in April and is set to be sentenced on Sept. 11. She was accused of teaming up with her husband to accept the bribes, which included hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and luxury cars, and conspiring to turn him into a foreign agent of Egypt. She was initially set to be tried alongside her husband, but her trial was delayed following her breast cancer diagnosis and surgery. Two of the businessmen were also convicted at trial and reported to prison last month. The third pleaded guilty before facing a jury. A federal judge in April denied Menendez's request for release and he took the ask to the federal appeals court last month. Meanwhile, Menendez's allies have reportedly made overtures to the White House for a pardon from President Trump, who has not openly ruled out clemency for the ex-senator. The former New Jersey Democrat himself has also publicly sought to land on the president's good side. After his sentencing, he exclaimed that 'President Trump was right,' deeming his own prosecution 'political' and 'corrupted to the core' while suggesting that Trump's was, as well. Earlier Wednesday, he made a winding post on X about 'how weaponization works, alleging similarities between his prosecution and the president's. The Hill requested comment from Menendez's lawyer.

Rapper Silento sentenced to 30 years for shooting cousin to death
Rapper Silento sentenced to 30 years for shooting cousin to death

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Rapper Silento sentenced to 30 years for shooting cousin to death

Atlanta rapper Silento has been sentenced to 30 years in prison over the killing of his cousin in 2021. The 27-year-old, known for his hit song, Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae), pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter and other charges in the shooting of his 34-year-old cousin. Silento, whose legal name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, DeKalb County district attorney Sherry Boston said in a statement. Hawk also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possessing a gun while committing a crime and concealing the death of another. A murder charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement. DeKalb County police found Frederick Rooks III shot in the leg and face in the early morning hours of January 21 2021 outside a home in a suburban area near Decatur. Police said they found 10 bullet casings near Mr Rooks' body, and security video from a nearby home showed a white BMW SUV speeding away shortly after the gunshots. A family member of Mr Rooks told police that Silento had picked up his cousin in a white BMW SUV, and GPS data and other cameras put the vehicle at the site of the shooting. Silento confessed about 10 days later after he was arrested, police said. Ballistics testing matched the bullet casings to a gun that Silento had when he was arrested, authorities said. Mr Rooks' brothers and sisters told DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L Johnson before sentencing that Silento should have received a longer sentence, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The rapper was a high school junior in suburban Atlanta in 2015 when he released Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) and watched it skyrocket into a dance craze. Silento made multiple other albums, but said in an interview with the medical talk show, The Doctors, in 2019, that he struggled with depression and had grown up in a family where he witnessed mental illness and violence. 'I've been fighting demons my whole life, my whole life,' he said in 2019. 'Depression doesn't leave you when you become famous, it just adds more pressure,' Silento said then, urging others to get help. 'And while everybody's looking at you, they're also judging you.' 'I don't know if I can truly be happy, I don't know if these demons will ever go away.' Silento had been struggling in the months before the arrest. His publicist, Chanel Hudson, has said he had tried to kill himself in 2020. In August 2020, Silento was arrested in Santa Ana, California, on a domestic violence charge. The next day, the Los Angeles Police Department charged him with assault with a deadly weapon after witnesses said he entered a home where he did not know anyone looking for his girlfriend and swung a hatchet at two people before he was disarmed. In October 2020, Silento was arrested after police said they clocked him driving at 143 miles per hour on Interstate 85 in DeKalb County. Ms Hudson said at the time of Silento's arrest in the killing of Mr Rooks that he had been 'suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses'.

Lithonia rapper Silento pleads guilty, sentenced to 30 years in prison for cousin's shooting death
Lithonia rapper Silento pleads guilty, sentenced to 30 years in prison for cousin's shooting death

Yahoo

time4 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Lithonia rapper Silento pleads guilty, sentenced to 30 years in prison for cousin's shooting death

Ricky Lamar Hawk, 27, a rapper known professionally as Silento, pleaded guilty to charges for the 2021 shooting death of his cousin, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announces Wednesday. Hawk pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and concealing the death of another in connection to the death of Frederick Rooks III in unincorporated Decatur. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson, who presided over the plea hearing, sentenced Hawk to 30 years in prison. On Jan. 21, 2021, the DeKalb County Police Department arrived around 3:37 a.m. and found Rooks with multiple gunshot wounds at the intersection of Deep Shoals Circle and Corners Crossing in the Panthersville area. EMS confirmed his death. Ten bullet casings were found near his body. Several people in the area reported they heard gunshots, and security camera footage from a nearby home showed a white BMW SUV speeding from the area just a few minutes after the gunfire. Police said Family members said Rooks was last seen with Hawk. He had picked Rooks up from a friend's home in the same kind of vehicle that was seen in the surveillance footage. RELATED STORY: Rapper Silento arrested, accused of murdering his cousin in DeKalb County The SUV was also caught by a Flock camera at the intersection of Panthersville Road and Flat Shoals Road at 2:45 a.m. that same morning, police said. Hawk was arrested Feb. 1, 2021, and admitted to shooting Rooks. Physical evidence corroborated his confession. Ballistics testing matched bullet casings at the scene to a gun found with Hawk when he was arrested. GPS data from his vehicle also placed the vehicle at the murder scene. TRENDING STORIES: Suspected Newton County hit and run driver identified, charged for death of teen They were once best friends, then one killed the other. We take you inside this bizarre murder case Immigration protest ends with tear gas, 6 arrests along Buford Highway; fireworks thrown at officers [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store