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Speaker 1: Jonathan Cursley, US correspondence with US. Hello Jonathan, Heather.

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Speaker 2: Happy Friday to you and everybody across.

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Speaker 1: Newszeal mate you two. So what's it been up to

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Speaker 1: in jail?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, exactly right. I mean, this is thirty six

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Speaker 2: years in a day after Eric Mendez and his brother

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Speaker 2: killed their parents, Jose and Kiddy Menendez, in a crime

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Speaker 2: that really rocked Beverly Hills, it rocked Los Angeles, it

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Speaker 2: rocked the United States, and three and a half decades

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Speaker 2: on it became a fascination for true crime, the obsessives,

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Speaker 2: if you like, subject of a couple of documentaries. And

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Speaker 2: now Eric Menendez, we've seen the first image for him,

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Speaker 2: have quite some time released publicly, and he has been

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Speaker 2: denied parole. So look here you are with a situation

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Speaker 2: where Lyle Menendez now faces a parole hearing tomorrow, and

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Speaker 2: you would have to say, if Eric Mendez is not

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Speaker 2: getting parole, then neither is Lyle. The commissioners have essentially said, look,

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Speaker 2: the killing of your mother, especially shod a lack of empathy,

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Speaker 2: Robert Barton said. He went on to say, we recognize

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Speaker 2: and understand that there were assault victims who find it

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Speaker 2: hard to come forward that they had claimed that their

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Speaker 2: their father had sexually abused them, had assaulted them, that

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Speaker 2: this had come out in the second trial, it had

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Speaker 2: come out in later documentaries. It wasn't believed by the

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Speaker 2: jury in the first instance. And they became this great,

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Speaker 2: big push a couple of years ago after the Netflix

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Speaker 2: series and other series became so incredibly popular. But now

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Speaker 2: you've got this situation where Eric Menendez now can't apply

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Speaker 2: for parole for another three years, and Lymanndez, if your

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Speaker 2: Lyman end is tonight going to sleep in your San

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Speaker 2: Diego correctional facility. You're thinking, well, while they even bother

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Speaker 2: turning up to the to the parole board hearing tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: because if my brother's capt that whack, then I'm likely

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Speaker 2: to get the same thing because they're essentially accused of

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Speaker 2: the same crime.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there will be many Netflix viewers who are incredibly disappointed,

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Speaker 1: like some members of our team today. Now there will

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Speaker 1: be Yeah, but you know, this is the how do

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Speaker 1: you say this without being impolite? This is the This

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Speaker 1: is when you turn murderers into some sort of pop

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Speaker 1: culture status symbols. I suppose you could say you just

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Speaker 1: kind of lose your bearings on things, don't you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And they became political prawns too, because essentially what

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Speaker 2: you had was a district attorney fight, which they are

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Speaker 2: elected individuals here in the United States of America. You

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Speaker 2: had a Democrat arguing that because of the popularity, largely

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Speaker 2: of the Netflix series, he was an unpopular district attorney.

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Speaker 2: He decided he would release them or move to release them.

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Speaker 2: Then you had a Republican district attorney. He was coming

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Speaker 2: here and saying, no, that's not right. They killed their parents,

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Speaker 2: they should stay in prison. So it became a hugely

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Speaker 2: political issue, and it was a political issue that voters

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Speaker 2: sided with Republicans oneah on this very issue. So look, essentially,

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Speaker 2: this has been a massive public fight from Eric and

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Speaker 2: Laho Menendez, from their family members, from their supporters, from

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Speaker 2: their celebrity attorneys, to the point now where you look

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Speaker 2: at it the case now and you're going, well, it's

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Speaker 2: going to be another three years before they're eving up

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Speaker 2: for parole, even though they got that reduced sentencing from

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Speaker 2: life to fifty years.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Jonathan, listen, really quickly, tell me what's going on

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Speaker 1: with this half a billion dollar penalty that Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: now doesn't have to pay. You'll be having a good day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean he's essentially said it's a great day

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Speaker 2: for America. He took the Truth's ocal not long after

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Speaker 2: this judgment came out. It really was kind of a

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Speaker 2: slit judgment in one sense. But this was a financial

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Speaker 2: penalty that was imposed on the Trump organization by New

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Speaker 2: York court last year after they were accused of essentially

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Speaker 2: inflating their own value. Now what you've had is an

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Speaker 2: appeals court to come back today and essentially say, look,

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Speaker 2: what Donald Trump is not going to have to do

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Speaker 2: is to pay that money. However, there is a split

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Speaker 2: decision on whether there is actually sort of criminality involved.

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Speaker 2: There are some judges on this appeals court who have

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Speaker 2: said yes, there is corruption involved. So it's not the

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Speaker 2: end of the road. I mean, Donald Trump is not

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Speaker 2: going to have to pay the half a billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: So it's a massive financial win for his organization and

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Speaker 2: ultimately for his legacy. But this will be dragged out.

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Speaker 2: There's going to be other appeals court processes. This appeals

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Speaker 2: court that decided on this today is really just a

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Speaker 2: sort of media interim mid range appeals court. It goes

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Speaker 2: to another appellate court they are looking at trying to

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Speaker 2: throw at the entire conviction against him. The judges today said, look,

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Speaker 2: that is unlikely. They essentially still stand by the ruling.

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Speaker 2: What they are essentially saying, though, is that he should

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Speaker 2: not have to pay the penalty. The organization should not

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Speaker 2: have to pay the penalty. But here you have this

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Speaker 2: fascinating situation where you have a president of the United

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Speaker 2: States of America who has been handed this huge financial

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Speaker 2: penalty over this issue. And you've got to remember too,

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Speaker 2: he still has his criminal conviction in New York over

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Speaker 2: the Stormy Daniels case that still remains in the appeals

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Speaker 2: process if you like. So you've got this extraordinary situation

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Speaker 2: America has not been in before, where a sitting president

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Speaker 2: of the United States of America has huge civil cases

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Speaker 2: and criminal cases against him. And now there is very

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Speaker 2: much plenty of attention on the appeals process from here.

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Speaker 2: But at least today he's celebrating some sort of a

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Speaker 2: financial win.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Jonathan, always got to talk to you. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much, Bete. That's Jonathan Curzley, our US correspondent. For

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Speaker 1: more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to news talks.

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