Menendez Brothers Get New Judge In Resentencing Case | TMZ Live - video Dailymotion

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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.

Menendez Brothers Get New Judge In Resentencing Case | TMZ Live

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