Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences without parole for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, will have to wait until the new year for a decision on their bid for release, with a judge scheduling a hearing on the matter for late January.
Attorneys for the brothers are pursuing several avenues in hopes of securing their release from prison, contending that new evidence backs the brothers’ claims that they were sexually abused by their father.
The pair was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the chance of parole for killing Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
During an hourlong hearing at Van Nuys Courthouse on Monday, Nov. 25, a judge heard from two of the brothers’ aunts, both of whom pleaded for their release. Judge Michael V. Jesic made no decision, instead scheduling a two-day hearing for Jan. 30-31 to hear arguments in the case.
Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, asked for the brothers’ release, saying she spoke for all members of her family apart from her brother Milton Andersen, Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, who has said through an attorney that his nephews’ “cold-blooded actions shattered their family.”
The January hearing will replace a previously scheduled Dec. 11 hearing, and will also allow newly elected District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who is set to be sworn in next week, more time to review the case. Current District Attorney George Gascón announced last month he supports a resentencing.
But Hochman wants to review the voluminous evidence before stating his position.
Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, both attended Monday’s hearing via an audio link from prison in San Diego. They had been expected to appear via video, but the video link wasn’t functioning. The brothers did not speak, other than acknowledging they were able to see and hear the proceeding on their end.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos is hoping to have the brothers resentenced on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter based on alleged new evidence of sexual abuse. The new evidence involves a letter by Erik Menendez to one of his cousins eight months before the killings, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teen.
Jose Menendez was an executive at RCA Records, which signed Menudo to a contract.
Anticipating high public interest in Monday’s hearing, the court held a lottery to allow 16 random members of the public into the courtroom.
Those interested had to arrive between 8 and 9 a.m. to receive a numbered ticket. Numbers were then chosen at random. About 60 tickets were handed out, according to a deputy sheriff.
Granada Hills resident Precious Romero, 20, showed up at 5:15 a.m. with her brother and his girlfriend – the second party to arrive at the courthouse. A criminal justice student at Cal State Northridge, Romero said she wanted to hear “what factors go into play” that determine the outcome of a case, but she wasn’t selected in the drawing.
One person who got in was Christian Garcia, a 24-year-old self-described social media influencer from Downtown L.A.
Cameras weren’t allowed in the courtroom, but people milling outside the courthouse recorded videos on their phones to capture the general atmosphere.
Garcia said he made the trip out not only to support the Menendez brothers, but to capture content for his social media channel.
“This,” he said, “is something only in L.A. you’d be able to do.”
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