Judge Delivers Menendez Brothers Bad News in Return to Courtroom
The brothers were dealt frustrating news in their first court date in decades.
Ronald L. Soble/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Menendez brothers will not be home in time for Christmas.
A California judge ruled Monday that the Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing will be pushed back from Dec. 11 to dates in late January.
The fate of the resentencing had been up in the air since the prosecutor who called for it, the Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón, lost his re-election bid earlier this month.
Gascón argued in a letter—and in a subsequent news conference—that the brothers, who gunned down their parents José and Kitty with shotguns in 1989 but claimed to be sexually abused by their dad, had served enough time for their crime.
Diane Hernandez, niece of Kitty Menendez, arrives to 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 on Nov. 25, 2024.
Daniel Cole/Reuters
It appears Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, will now will have to wait to see if the new district attorney, Nathan Hochman, views their case as favorably as his predecessor. The moderate has pledged to give the case an in-depth review before he takes a stance on resentencing. He is set to be sworn in on Dec. 2.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has so far declined to grant a clemency petition for the brothers, despite their attorneys petitioning him to. The Democrat said he’ll allow Hochman to review the case before he weighs in.
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Joan VanderMolen, the 92-year-old sister to Kitty, spoke in court on Monday to ask that a judge free the brothers ASAP.
“I love Erik and Lyle and I want them to come home,” she told the judge, according to Variety. “They never knew if tonight would be the night they would be raped. It’s time for them to come home.”
Monday was set to the first time the brothers were together in court since 1996, but Variety reported their courtroom stream from a San Diego prison failed and they never connected. Loved ones of the duo, including Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez, were spotted outside in and around the Van Nuys courthouse.
Tammi Menendez, Erik Menendez' wife, looks on at 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, Nov. 25, 2024.
Daniel Cole/Reuters
A lottery was held to determine which 16 members of the public would be permitted inside the hearing. Those who snagged a seat were ordered to surrender their cellphones.
Gascón pointed out last month that the brothers’ age at the time of the double slaying—aged 21 and 18—would make them eligible for immediate parole if they were to be resentenced.
The brothers have been proceeding with a habeas corpus petition that calls for a resentencing. Included in that petition is a letter that Erik sent to his cousin months before the murders that alleged his father was sexually abusing him, as well as separate allegations against José that were levied by the former Menudo member Roy Rosselló.
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