A California judge has postponed a resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers to January 2025.
The hearing to decide whether Erik Menendez and Lyle Menendez should be given a chance at parole was originally scheduled for December 11, but now will be January 30-31, after Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said Monday that he needed more time to review the case and said he wants to give the newly elected Los Angeles district attorney enough time to get up to speed.
The brothers were found guilty of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 at their Beverly Hills home and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
After 28 years behind bars, the brothers appeared virtually from the San Diego prison where they are both incarcerated. The last time they were seen in public was in 1996 during their second trial after the first ended in a mistrial.
While their defense attorneys argued at trial that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their parents for money. They repeatedly appealed their convictions without success.
Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle are making a new bid for freedom.
Earlier this year, the brothers’ attorney filed a habeas corpus petition asking a judge to consider new evidence of their father’s alleged sexual abuse.
The new evidence includes a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing the sexual abuse he had endured from his father. The brothers asked their lawyers about it after it was mentioned in a 2015 Barbara Walters television special.
The lawyers hadn’t known of the letter and realized it had not been introduced at their trials, making it effectively new evidence that they say corroborates allegations that Erik was sexually abused by his father.
Another piece of new evidence emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, recently came forward saying he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys’ father, when he was a teen in the 1980s. Menudo was signed under RCA Records, where Jose Menendez was chief operating officer.
Rossello spoke about his abuse in the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed and provided a signed declaration to the brothers’ lawyers.
Had these two pieces of evidence been available during the brothers’ trial, prosecutors would not have been able to argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse, or that their father Jose Menendez was not the “kind of man that would” abuse children, the petition argues.
The recent releases of the Netflix drama Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the documentary The Menendez Brothers in 2024 brought renewed public attention to their plight.
Prosecutors recommended resentencing for the brothers last month, saying they have worked on redemption and rehabilitation and demonstrated good behavior inside prison.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón held a news conference less than two weeks before Election Day, asking for new sentences of 50 years to life. This could make them immediately eligible for parole because they were less than 26 years old when they killed their parents.
Immediate freedom is one possible result; the judge also might weigh in on the merits of the evidence. And if the brothers don’t get relief in court, they can hope California’s governor will grant them clemency.
While clemency might be another pathway to freedom for the brothers, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he won’t decide until incoming Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman reviews the case.
Hochman, a Republican-turned-Independent, unseated the progressive Gascón on December 2.
“Before I can make any decision about the Menendez brothers’ case, I will need to become thoroughly familiar with the relevant facts, the evidence and the law,” Hochman said in a statement.