Menendez brothers resent pushed back, judge’s eyes late January

A California judge has delayed the long-awaited hearing of Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez, two Beverly Hills brothers serving life without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents.

Outgoing Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon asked the court to reduce their sentences less than two weeks before Election Day — then he lost to independent candidate Nathan Hochman, who takes office on Dec. 2.

Judge Michael Jesic said he was unlikely to be ready for the previously scheduled Dec. 11 hearing and said he would push it back to late January “out of respect for the new administration” after both sides were agreed.

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Defense attorney Mark Geragos said he expects the hearing to take more than a day in court.

Both sides provisionally agreed to 30-31. January, but the judge did not formally put it on the calendar.

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Due to a technical error, the brothers did not appear largely as expected. The Geragos waived their right to appear while the court considered the schedule.

Two witnesses were still expected to testify Monday because of health concerns — including the brothers’ 93-year-old aunt, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, who is their mother’s sister.

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Mary “Kitty” Menendez was sitting with her husband Jose when the brothers burst into their living room and shot them from behind while they were eating ice cream and watching TV. Jose died quickly, but the brothers had to go outside and get more ammo to finish off their mother.

The brothers later claimed self-defense, claiming they were afraid their father would kill them because they planned to expose him as a child sex abuser.

While two dozen relatives have sided with the brothers in their quest for reduced sentences, Kitty and VanderMolen’s brother, Milton Andersen, remain staunchly opposed to their release.

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“It is Milton Andersen’s continued belief that the allegations of abuse were fabricated and false, and he believes that correct judgment was issued by the jury and the correct verdict was also committed,” his attorney, Kathleen Cady, told Fox News Digital.

Hochman, a moderate who rejected Gascon’s soft-on-crime approach to running the DA’s office, has vowed to thoroughly review the case before deciding whether to continue the outrageous push started by his predecessor.

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A separate habeas corpus application is also making its way through the court, which would be a further path to freedom if successful.

Their petition is based on newly emerged evidence to support their allegations of child abuse against their father – an affidavit of unconfirmed origin and the word of Roy Rosello, a former Menudo member who said he had also been abused by Jose Menendez as child.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom also declined to grant a clemency petition for the brothers — at least for now — saying he would delay Hochman’s pending review of the case before making a decision.

This is a development story.