A California judge has delayed the highly anticipated resentencing hearing for Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez, two Beverly Hills brothers serving life without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents.
Outgoing Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon asked the court to reduce their sentences less than two weeks before Election Day – then he lost to independent candidate Nathan Hochman, who takes office on Dec. 2.
Judge Michael Jesic said he likely wouldn’t be ready for the previously scheduled Dec. 11 hearing and said he would push it back to late January “out of respect for the new administration” after both sides agreed.
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Tammi Menendez, Erik Menendez’ wife, and Erik Menendez’ stepdaughter walk near the Van Nuys Courthouse West, on the day of a hearing in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez on whether to reconsider the first-degree conviction of the Menendez brothers in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 25, 2024. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole)
Defense Attorney Mark Geragos said he expects the hearing to take more than a day in court.
Both sides tentatively agreed to January 30-31, but the judge did not formally set it in the calendar.
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Defense Attorney Mark Geragos, arrives at the Van Nuys courthouse in Los Angeles, for a hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Due to a technical glitch, the brothers did not appear virtually as expected. Geragos waived their right to appear while the court addressed scheduling.
Two witnesses were still expected to testify Monday due to health concerns – including the brothers’ 93-year-old aunt, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, who is their mother’s sister.
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Mary “Kitty” Menendez was sitting alongside her husband Jose when the brothers barged into their living room and shotgunned them from behind while they were eating ice cream and watching TV. Jose died quickly, but the brothers had to go outside and get more ammunition to finish off their mother.
Lyle Menendez, left, and his brother Erik are pictured in their most recent prison mugshots, taken on Oct. 10, 2024. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
The brothers later claimed self-defense, arguing they were afraid their father would kill them because they planned to expose him as a child sex abuser.
While two dozen relatives have sided with the brothers in their quest for reduced sentences, Kitty and VanderMolen’s brother, Milton Andersen, remains vehemently opposed to their release.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, right, shakes hands with members of the Menendez family after addressing the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez at a news conference at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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“It’s Milton Andersen’s continued belief that the claims of molestation were made up, and they were false, and he believes that the correct verdict was issued by the jury and the correct sentence was also committed,” his attorney, Kathleen Cady, told Fox News Digital.
Hochman, a moderate who rejected Gascon’s soft-on-crime approach to running the DA’s office, has pledged to thoroughly review the case before taking a stance on whether he will continue with the resentencing push begun by his predecessor.
An undated photo of the Menendez family as it appears on screen during a panel at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday, June 2. The brothers Lyle and Erik were convicted of fatally shooting both of their parents in 1989. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
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A separate habeas corpus petition is also making its way through the court, which would be an additional path to freedom if successful.
Their petition is based on newly emerged evidence in support of their allegations of child abuse against their father – a corroborating letter of unconfirmed origin and the word of Roy Rosello, a former Menudo member who said he too had been abused by Jose Menendez as a child.
New Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. ( Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Gov. Gavin Newsom also declined to grant a clemency petition for the brothers – at least for now – stating he would defer to Hochman’s pending review of the case before making a decision.
This is a developing story.
