Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic on Monday postponed the Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing originally scheduled for Dec. 11 to Jan. 30-31, 2025.
The move, reported by Los Angeles’ Fox 11 and other outlets, comes after a Monday court proceeding in which attorneys for the brothers asked the judge to reconsider their life-sentence convictions without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents.
While Lyle and Erik Menendez appeared virtually in the Van Nuys courtroom from San Diego, where they’re incarcerated, defense attorney Mark Geragos asked the judge to resentence the brothers on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, Fox 11 reported. The older sisters of the brothers’ late parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, also testified.
Geragos and fellow defense attorney Clifford Gardner filed a habeas petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction and sentences in the wake of new evidence that has received widespread attention both due to the case returning to the cultural zeitgeist via TV shows focused on the brothers’ story, and a heated race for Los Angeles District Attorney that saw D.A. George Gascón lose his election after he recommended resentencing for the brothers. New D.A. Nathan Hochman takes office on Dec. 3.
Monday’s hearing was the latest update in a case that has repeatedly captivated the nation, and as such it produced quite the scene outside the courthouse with waiting media crews and members of the public camped out long before the sun came up hoping to secure one of 16 lottery tickets for seating inside the court.
In 1989, RCA Records executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were shot and killed in their Beverly Hills home. In March 1990, their sons, Lyle and Erik, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The brothers faced separate jury trials, which were widely covered at the time, and their attorneys argued that they suffered years of physical abuse, largely from Jose. Both juries remained deadlocked, paving the way for a second joint trial that began in 1995. Erik and Lyle were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Supporters have long pointed to lack of testimony regarding their abuse during the second trial as a possible reason for the guilty verdicts.
Over the decades, the case has often found its way back into the headlines but nothing compared to what went down in recent years after a groundswell of support surfaced on TikTok as new evidence and another victim emerged that seemingly validated claims from the brothers that they had been sexually abused by their father. A Peacock documentary, Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, executive produced by trial journalist Robert Rand, featured a member of the popular boy band Menudo who alleged that he, too, had been a victim of Jose. Separately, Rand discovered a letter Erik had sent to a cousin, Andy Cano, in 1988 (long before the murders) that included claims of sexual abuse at the hands of his father.
The brothers’ story also received global attention from Netflix with a pair of projects, Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and a follow-up documentary that featured exclusive interviews with the two, The Menendez Brothers.
Amid his reelection bid, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón filed a motion in October that recommended a judge resentence the brothers. At a press conference announcing the move, Gascón cited “tremendous amount of public attention” on the case as the streamer’s narrative series remained one of the platform’s most watched titles. Gascón lost the election to Nathan Hochman who released a statement saying he would need time to pore over the case files before making a decision.
“Once I take office on Dec. 3, I look forward to putting in the hard work to thoroughly review the facts and law of the Menendez case, including reviewing the confidential prison files, the transcripts of the two trials and the voluminous exhibits, as well as speaking with the prosecutors, defense attorneys and victim family members,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has also weighed in. “The Governor respects the role of the District Attorney in ensuring justice is served and recognizes that voters have entrusted District Attorney-elect Hochman to carry out this responsibility,” reads a statement released by his office. “The Governor will defer to the D.A.-elect’s review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions.”
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