LA county DA apologizes after Menendez aunt collapses over grizzly crime scene photos

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office apologized after showing extremely violent crime scene photos during a court hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are asking for their life sentences to be reduced. The photos were so disturbing that the Menendez brothers’ 85-year-old aunt, Terry Baralt, had to be taken to the hospital.

This has caused a huge argument, with the prosecution saying they were just trying to show the truth of the crime, while the family says this broke their rights under Marsy’s Law and ignored how painful it would be for them, per NBC. However, due to this being a hearing about the crime and if the sentencing was too harsh for the crime committed, it’s hard to ignore that certain pieces of evidence needed to be reviewed again.

At the hearing on Friday, where the Menendez brothers were trying to get their no-parole life sentences changed, prosecutors showed uncensored pictures of José and Kitty Menendez’s murder scene from 1989. The photos showed what happened after the brothers shot their parents to death. The issue was that the family in the courtroom was not warned these pictures would be shown.

DA apologizes for not warning family before showing grime photos of Menendez brothers crime scene

Because of this, the family says, Terry Baralt, the defendants’ aunt and sister of the murdered José Menendez, collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. Reports say she is now in critical condition, made worse by the stress of what happened and her ongoing fight with colon cancer.

The family, deeply upset by this, released a statement saying they were furious and calling the District Attorney’s Office’s choice “shocking and careless.” They say showing the photos broke Marsy’s Law, a California rule meant to protect crime victims’ rights to privacy, respect, and dignity. The family believes the graphic images caused serious emotional harm and directly led to Baralt’s hospitalization, making her condition life-threatening.

They are now formally asking for the LA County DA’s Office to be taken off the case, saying they can’t be fair or neutral. The LA County DA’s Office admitted the photos were upsetting and apologized for not warning the family first, but they defended their decision. As the DA stated, a courtroom is “intended to be a place where the truth, no matter how painful, is brought to light,” so while a warning should have been issued, the truth can be grim.

They said the point of the hearing was to show the truth about the crime, no matter how painful. They also said that because the Menendez brothers are asking for clemency, the case had to be looked at again, including the worst details. The office pointed out that the violent nature of the murders had already been described in public records and shown in a Netflix documentary without anyone objecting before.

The DA’s office also mentioned that District Attorney Nathan Hochman met with more than two dozen family members for three hours to show he cared—something that had never happened in the 30 years since the case began.

The judge in the case, Michael Jesic, has already ruled that the resentencing should move forward, even though the DA’s office disagrees. This decision will decide whether the brothers, who are serving life without parole for killing their parents in 1989, could someday be released after 50 years.