A long-awaited resentencing hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez was delayed Thursday morning after Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman showed up at the Superior Courthouse for an impromptu press conference after asking a judge to delay Thursday’s proceedings, citing an unreleased parole report from Governor Gavin Newsom. In late February, Newsom directed his state parole board to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to determine if the Menendez brothers pose a safety concern to the public. Hochman told reporters the report had been completed, and argued that Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic should examine its contents before proceeding with the resentencing hearing. Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers – who have been imprisoned for more than 35 years in connection with the murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez – called the move another indication of Hochman’s bias against his clients. He railed that the brothers’ defense team hadn’t seen the report, which prompted the judge to call a long recess to sort out the confusion with the Governor’s office. [Geragos is the co-owner of Engine Vision Media, the parent company of Los Angeles .]
An attorney for the extended Menendez family, who filled the courtroom with roughly two dozen supporters who have been fighting for Lyle and Erik’s release, gave an emotional argument about the hospitalization of 85-year-old Teresita “Terry” Baralt, who was found unresponsive Sunday , 30 hours after she saw a grisly crime scene photo of her dead brother Jose and self-proclaimed best friend Kitty as part of prosecutor Habib Balian’s argument that the brother have shown no remorse. Bryan Freedman told the court that he felt a personal affront at the trauma the Menendez family felt, recounting the loss of his sister – an attorney in San Diego – who died of an overdose. Freedman told the court Hochman should be admonished for violating Marsy’s Law, a statue that protects crime victims…