The family of Erik and Lyle Menendez is calling for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to be removed from the brothers’ case, claiming the use of a graphic photo at a court hearing Friday caused the brothers’ aunt to be hospitalized.
In a statement released Sunday by the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition — “a family-led initiative advocating for the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez” — the family called on the DA’s office to take accountability for what it called “a disturbing and reckless decision” during the hearing that they said “has had a detrimental impact on the victims’ family.”
“In open court, and without any prior warning, prosecutors displayed an unredacted, graphic image of José Menendez’s lifeless body — an act that retraumatized family members in attendance and led to the hospitalization of José’s 85-year-old sister, Terry Baralt, who is now in critical condition,” the statement said.
The exact reason for Baralt’s hospitalization was not immediately clear.
“Terry, who is battling cancer, came to court to support her family. No physical pain has ever kept her from being there for her nephews,” the family statement said. “But the display put on by the DA’s office pushed her past the brink. By early this morning, she was rushed to the hospital and remains in critical condition.”
The family said the DA’s use of the photo was a violation of Marsy’s Law, which grants victims the right to fairness, respect and dignity, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The family said it is taking formal action to get the DA’s office off the case, but it did not provide details. The family added that the office is “incapable of handling this process with the fairness, care, or neutrality required by law.”
In a statement, the DA’s office said prosecutors did not intend to “cause distress or pain” to people who attended the hearing.
It added that it has described the brothers’ actions in public documents and that no one has objected to describing their conducts orally, nor, it said, did anyone object when crime scene images were shown in a recent Netflix documentary.
“To the extent that the photographic depiction of this conduct upset any of the Menendez family members present in court, we apologize for not giving prior warning that the conduct would be described in detail not only in words but also through a crime scene photo,” the DA’s office said.
Friday’s court hearing in Southern California was in regard to the brothers’ resentencing efforts.
At the hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic cleared the way for a legal process to determine whether if the brothers should be resentenced for the murders of their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989.
Jesic denied a motion from District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office that asked the court to withdraw former District Attorney George Gascón’s recommendation to reduce the Menendezes’ prison sentences from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life.
If Jesic were to approve Gascón’s recommendation, the brothers — who have served 35 years for the murders of José and Kitty Menendez — could be eligible for parole immediately.
Baralt spoke out Thursday for the first time in decades, telling ABC News that Erik and Lyle Menendez “are like the boys that I didn’t have.”
“It’s time — 35 years is a long time,” she said. “It’s a whole branch of my family erased. The ones that are gone and the ones that are still paying for it, which were kids.”
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 kids are little and they come to you, you fix the problem. I can’t help them. … There is nothing I can do — just go visit them and cry when I leave,” she told ABC News.
Baralt also said she is worried she won’t live to see her nephews released from prison.
