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Erik and Lyle Menendez’s bid for shorter sentences and a shot at freedom has again been delayed due to disputes among prosecutors and the brothers’ lawyers.
Los Angeles superior court judge Michael Jesic said on Thursday that the discussions over the admissibility of the state parole board’s comprehensive risk assessments, which were ordered by California governor Gavin Newsom, will be considered during a new hearing on 9 May.
Prosecutors filed a motion late Wednesday to delay the resentencing hearings so the court could obtain part of those assessments that they said had already been completed.
The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings. Defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The resentencing hearing will center on whether the brothers have been rehabilitated in prison and deserve a lesser sentence that could make them eligible for release. Former Los Angeles county district attorney George Gascón had requested their sentences be reduced to 50 years with the possibility of parole. But their defense attorney, Mark Geragos, said Thursday he’ll ask the judge to reduce their charges to manslaughter, allowing them to be immediately released from prison.
On Thursday, neither the judge nor the brothers’ attorneys had seen the governor’s report that spurred heated arguments in the packed courtroom.
“I need clarification from the governor’s office,” Jesic said. “This is stupid.”
Prosecutors, who had seen the report, argued they should be able to use it, and filed to postpone the hearing so everyone could consider it.
Deputy district attorney Habib Balian argued that the report, intended for a separate 13 June parole board hearing, was relevant and necessary.
“If there is a report out there assessing the risk of violence, how do we not use it?” Habib said.
Geragos angrily denounced the district attorney, Nathan Hochman, for discussing the report during a morning news conference and said he’ll file a motion to remove Hochman from the case. Hochman was elected in November 2024 and does not support resentencing.
The governor’s office confirmed that part of the risk assessment was shared with the defense and prosecution for review 60 days before the June clemency hearing, per California law. They also notified the judge of the status of the report and offered to share it if requested, but said it was not a stand-alone risk assessment.
If the judge shortens their sentences, the brothers may still need approval from the state’s parole board to leave prison.
The brothers watched the proceedings via video from a correctional facility near San Diego, and could be seen in their blue prison garb on a screen in the courtroom. They showed no obvious reaction to the arguments.
The brothers’ hearing has been delayed several times. An initial hearing scheduled for January was postponed due to the Los Angeles wildfires and prosecutors’ attempt to withdraw their sentencing request.
The case has captured the public’s attention for decades, and the Netflix drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and a subsequent documentary brought new attention to the case. Reporters from dozens of media outlets crowded outside the courthouse and vied for space inside the courtroom.
Geragos and attorney Bryan Freedman, who is representing Menendez relatives, also denounced prosecutors for showing gruesome crime scene photos without warning family members who were in the room for a hearing last week to determine whether the resentencing hearing would go forward.
“That’s not dignity,” Freedman said. “That’s disrespect. That’s harassment.”
Balian apologized for the lack of a warning, but added: “Erik and Lyle Menendez caused that carnage, not me.”
Geragos and Freedman also decried the DA’s office for taking over the court’s victims’ services arm, and for the lack of any contact between the office and the surviving Menendez relatives.
The extended Menendez family, with the exception of an uncle who died last month, has said they fully forgive the brothers for what they did and want them to be freed.
The brothers’ attorneys say their clients have worked hard over the decades to better themselves and give back to the prison community.
Prosecutors have said the brothers have not admitted to lies told during their trial about why they killed their parents, or that they asked their friends to lie for them in court. Hochman’s office has also said it does not believe that the brothers were sexually abused by their father and that by speaking about their childhood abuse, they have not taken complete responsibility for the crime.
