Big twist for Erik and Lyle Menendez ... a judge who may have been sympathetic to their bid to get out of prison is off the case, and a new judge is coming on board.
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00:00There is a big twist in the Menendez case.
00:05We told you that the L.A. County D.A. is asking a judge to re-sentence them,
00:13essentially making them immediately eligible for parole.
00:17Well, the judge who was supposed to get this case, according to the D.A.,
00:22has been hearing this matter for 18 months.
00:27He is a judge by the name of William Ryan.
00:30He is in downtown L.A.
00:33And that's the problem.
00:34It felt like it was in the bag with this guy.
00:37Right, and we had said that.
00:38That everything looked like he would definitely put this through,
00:43that he agreed with D.A. Gascon.
00:45He's the one who ordered Gascon to look at the case again.
00:47So it looked like it was in the bag.
00:50Not so fast, as they say, because there is a new judge in town,
00:54a new judge who has this case and will be determining whether or not they get re-sentenced.
01:00Before you say who the new judge is, let me explain why there's a new judge.
01:05It turns out this case was not handled in downtown Los Angeles.
01:08The original, way back in—
01:10The two trials, the mistrial and the conviction,
01:13they were in Van Nuys, which is in the San Fernando Valley.
01:17That's where they were tried.
01:19A determination was made by judges that even after Gascon filed with this Judge Ryan,
01:26that he was the wrong judge to handle it.
01:28It needed to go to Van Nuys, because that's where the sentence was imposed.
01:33And if you're going to re-sentence, it has to be in Van Nuys.
01:37So the presiding judge in Van Nuys had to make a decision,
01:41who in Van Nuys, because the old judge has retired.
01:45So who's going to hear this case?
01:46Well, a decision has been made.
01:47Yes, she made that decision yesterday, and now it is Judge Michael Jessick
01:52who will be determining whether or not the Menendez brothers get re-sentenced.
01:57So you wonder who Michael Jessick is, because look—
01:59I'm sure the Menendez brothers immediately were like,
02:01wait a second, who is this guy?
02:02This is the whole ballgame, that if this judge—
02:05because look, a lot of people are split on this.
02:07There are a lot of people who think the Menendez brothers should spend the rest of their lives in prison.
02:11So is this one of those guys, or is it more like a Judge Ryan guy?
02:16So we know something about this judge.
02:18So number one, he was a former deputy district attorney in L.A. County.
02:24He was a prosecutor.
02:25He was a prosecutor.
02:26He is viewed by lawyers who have appeared before him in court as a law and order guy,
02:33a sometimes pro-prosecution guy, a very smart guy, and a very fair guy.
02:40There is a case that I think is going to tell us a lot about how he's going to handle this.
02:46A case that he's already handled?
02:47That he's already adjudicated?
02:48No, a case that he handled as a D.A.
02:53He was a D.A. in the early 2000s,
02:58and there was a case where a gang member was on trial for murder,
03:04and a witness identified this gang member.
03:09He was the third prosecutor on this case.
03:11It was a very contentious case.
03:13The public defender was saying that the witness misidentified this gang member,
03:18that it wasn't this guy.
03:20A lot of people in the D.A.'s office were telling Jessick,
03:26go after this guy.
03:27He's the right guy.
03:29Jessick was saying, I'm not so sure.
03:31And he defied the office and said,
03:34I want to listen to what this public defender has to say.
03:38And ultimately, even though he got a lot of pressure from the office,
03:42he decided that the public defender was right and had the case dismissed.
03:48Because that's a big deal.
03:51It shows who he is.
03:52I think this is a big deal,
03:54and I think it all works against the Menendez brothers, quite honestly.
03:57First, he's a law and order guy,
03:58so he's going to be more likely to be in favor of the punishment meets the crime.
04:02Secondly, he's not afraid to defy rulings from on high.
04:08We have seen this, right?
04:09This judge does not need to listen to the district attorney in making his decision.
04:14He can go any way that he thinks is best.
04:18And in this case, if he's law and order,
04:19we have two people convicted of murdering their parents,
04:22he may be less likely to abide by what the D.A. wants.
04:26I spoke to a criminal defense lawyer who has appeared before him.
04:30And it's interesting, he said to me,
04:31which is a little opposite of what I just told you about this case,
04:36that he's not necessarily willing to go out on a limb.
04:40But ultimately, this public defender felt that what's going to matter here-
04:45At least as a prosecutor, he was-
04:48I'm going to give you an opinion of the person I spoke to,
04:52who's a very well-connected guy.
04:53And I don't want to speak for this judge because I don't know him,
04:56but he said he is not a fan of the current district attorney.
05:00That said, this person said it matters who the actual prosecutor is
05:09who's going to go into the court and make the argument.
05:12He said that's not going to be Gascon.
05:14It's going to be another prosecutor.
05:16So that's going to be really important.
05:18It's just this is not the cakewalk that I think the Menendez brothers thought
05:24they were going to get.
05:25The hearing we're told is probably going to be next month.
05:29So everything's on the table then.
05:31My name is Miguel Herrera.
05:32I'm from Phoenix, Arizona.
05:34I think based on everything that's out now,
05:36my only question would be how could you possibly hold that against them for so long?
05:41They've now served 35 years in prison, and
05:44I think that they deserve a shot to rejoin society and to work on themselves.
05:49And to be given an opportunity to learn to contribute to society in a positive way
05:54and possibly help others with the story and the experience that they've had.
05:58Well, we will see.
05:59We should know in a month or so what's going to happen.
06:02It's going to be a big deal.