Menendez brothers listen to court hearings by phone as aunts testify on their behalf

The infamous case of Erik and Lyle Menendez was back before a judge Monday, with the brothers listening by phone during a status hearing on their habeas corpus petition filed last year to review new evidence not presented at trial.

Judge Michael Jesic allowed testimony from two of the brothers’ aunts — their mother’s sister, Joan VanderMolen, and their father’s sister, Terry Baralt — because of health concerns.

The aunts “both made impassioned pleas to the judge to send the brothers home,” defense attorney Mark Geragos told reporters after the hearing, calling it a “moving experience.”

“No child should have to endure what Eric and Lyle had at the hands of their father,” VanderMolen told the judge. “It breaks my heart that Kitty knew and didn’t do anything about it.”

VanderMolen, who turns 93 on Tuesday, said she loves her nephews and lamented that “they never knew if tonight was the night they were going to be raped. and rape them … It’s unconscionable.”

However, VanderMolen acknowledged that her brother is against the siblings’ release.

The 85-year-old Baralt said: “We miss those who are gone, but we also miss the children. I want to see leniency. Thirty-five years is a long time. They have rehabilitated and done many good things.”

Asked by the prosecution if she knew what the brothers had done, she calmly replied that they killed their parents.

Jesic pushed back the next scheduled hearing – which is on the brothers’ recommendation for resentencing – from Dec. 11 to Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.

Jesic said he needs time to go through 17 boxes of files on the case and said he wants to give newly elected Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman plenty of time to get up to speed.

Hochman, who will take office on Dec. 2, said in a statement that the delay “will allow me sufficient time to review the extensive prison records, transcripts of two lengthy trials and voluminous exhibits, as well as consult with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel and the victim’s family members I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all the facts and the law to reach a fair and just decision and then defend it in court.”

Geragos told reporters: “By January 30 or 31, we hope that by the end of that, or sometime before, we will actually have the brothers released.”

Monday’s hearing was delayed 40 minutes due to challenges trying to get Lyle and Erik Menendez to be available in court via video. After several attempts, the brothers were able to listen to the case on the phone.

A lottery was held for 16 public seats in the courtroom. Dozens of members of the public arrived early in the morning to wait for a chance to attend the hearing.

The case began in 1989 when Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home. The defense argued the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, but prosecutors alleged they killed for money.

The first trial, which had separate juries for each brother, ended in mistrials. In 1996, after the second trial – in which the judge excluded much of the sex abuse evidence – the brothers were convicted and both sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole.

Two new pieces of evidence are at the center of the brothers’ habeas corpus petition.

One is allegations from a former member of the boy band Menudo, who revealed last year that he was raped by the brothers’ father, Jose Menendez.

The second piece is a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders, detailing his alleged abuse by his father. The cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but the letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t found until several years ago, according to the brothers’ attorney.

While the habeas corpus petition moves through the courts, the brothers have two other potential paths to freedom.

One way is through outrage. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced last month that he was recommending that the brothers’ sentences of life without parole be vacated and that they instead be convicted of murder, which would carry a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.

The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.

Shortly after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his re-election race to Hochman. The incoming DA said he plans to read through the evidence before showing his support for the outrage.

The other possible path to freedom is the brothers’ request for clemency, which they have submitted to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Last week, Newsom said he will submit to Hochman’s “review and analysis of the Menendez case before making any clemency decisions.”

ABC News’ Alex Stone, Matt Gutman and Ashley Riegle contributed to this report.