An aunt of well -known murderers Erik and Lyle Menéndez is in a critical condition after Los Angeles prosecutors showed a graphic photo of the murder victim José Méndez duration of a resentment audience for the brothers, his family said.
“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 the members of the retraumatized family who attended and led to the hospitalization of the 85 -year -old sister of José, Terry Baralt, who is now in critical state,” said Erik’s justice and Lle Coalition in a statement.
The Menéndez family has also requested that the Office of the District Prosecutor of Los Angeles County be eliminated from the case after the “disturbing and reckless decision,” according to NBC News, saying that prosecutors are “unable to process a law of rality.”
Baralt, who has cancer, had appeared in court to advocate for the liberation of the brothers on Friday.
Lyle, now 57, and Erik, 54, were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Kitty, at his home in Beverly Hills on the night of August 20, 1989. The brothers say they killed their parents in personal defense after suffering sadistic sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
Prosecutors say that the murders were committed by greed for the fortune of $ 15 million of their parents. The Menéndez case received new attention after the launch of the successful Netflix series last year, “Samples: The Lyle and Erik Méndez Story”.
The Menéndez family said that the use of the photo of the photo violated the law of Marsy of California, which gives the relatives of the victims the right to equity, respect and dignity.
“No physical pain has ever maintained [Baralt] From being there for his nephews, “said the family statement. At the beginning of this morning, she was urgently taken to the hospital and remains critical.”
The Office of the District Prosecutor in response said that their prosecutors did not intend to “cause anguish or pain” to the audience attendees.
“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,” said the DA, da.
After Friday’s hearing, a judge failed against the commitment of the Nathan Hochman district prosecutor to withdraw the request for resentment presented by his predecessor, George Gascon, saying that prosecutors did not have a legally valid reason to do so.
Judge Michael Jesus established additional hearings for Thursday and Friday of this week, after which a final decision on resentment is expected.
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