The Menendez brothers’ recommendation hearing was pushed back to late January

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

The 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.

Judge Michael Jesic allowed testimony Monday 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.” The aunts testified about “all the good things” the brothers have done in prison, Geragos said.

Jesic pushed back another scheduled hearing on the brothers’ resentencing recommendation 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 the newly elected Los Angeles district attorney plenty of time to get up to speed.

“By January 30 or 31, we’re hoping that by the end of that, or sometime before, we’ll actually have the brothers released,” Geragos said.

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.

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.

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 race for re-election to Nathan Hochman. The incoming DA, who is set to take office Dec. 2, said he plans to read through the evidence — including confidential prison records and interviews with family, attorneys and law enforcement — before showing his support for resonance.

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.