Menendez brothers attend court hearing from jail – NBC Los Angeles

Erik and Lyle Menendez were part of a hearing Monday on an upcoming retrial and other matters surrounding the murder conviction that put them behind bars for the 1989 slaying of their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.

The brothers could be heard, but not seen, on a feed from a prison in San Diego. They were expected to appear on a video feed, but technical problems prevented them from being seen together in court for the first time in decades.

The status conference was scheduled to provide a legal update on what is now happening in the brothers’ case, including where things stand with their possible convictions for the murders. Before the conference began, it was decided that a retrial scheduled for December 11th will be rescheduled for January 30th and 31st to give the newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney more time to study the case.

“We’re hoping that by the end of it, or something before, we’ll have the brothers released,” attorney Mark Geragos said outside the courthouse.

The judge set a deadline of mid-January for all parties to file documents for the hearing, one of the paths that could lead to their release from prison after serving 35 years of their life sentences.

The brothers had the right to be present in the San Fernando Valley courtroom, but their attorney said Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, would participate online. There were no cameras in the courtroom, but sketch artists provided drawings.

Menendez’s family members spoke at the hearing and asked the judge to release them, Geragos said. No decision was made on defense efforts to have the brothers — 21 and 18 when they killed their parents in 1989 — re-sentenced and potentially released from prison.

“It was quite a moving experience,” Geragos said.

The hour-long hearing included testimony from two of the brothers’ aunts, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, and Terry Baralt, Jose’s older sister. They asked for the brothers’ release, saying they have served enough time.

“We miss those who are gone tremendously,” said Terry Baralt, 85. “But we also miss the children.”

“It’s time for them to come home.”

Asked by Brock Lunsford, assistant chief deputy for the District Attorney’s Post-Conviction and Litigation unit, if she knew exactly why her nephews were in prison, Baralt replied, “Absolutely. They killed their parents.”

VanderMolen, who turns 93 on Tuesday, read a statement to the court.

The Menendez brothers are back in court on Monday, and so will the sketch artist of their second trial, Mona Shafer Edwards. Alex Rozier reports for NBC4 News at 16.00 on 22 November 2024.

“No child should have to endure what Lyle and Eric went through,” she said. “No child should live … knowing that their father would rape them at night. It’s time for them to come home.”

Status conferences usually involve basic housekeeping issues like court scheduling and lawyers to discuss, but the Menendez brothers’ case has gained new attention following Netflix’s release of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and a recommendation from Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón , that their sentences be shortened. If a judge eventually agrees with the outgoing district attorney, who was defeated in the November election, the brothers could be eligible for immediate parole.

The presence of the key people at the center of the high-profile Los Angeles case made this status conference unlike most others. Seats for the 10:30 a.m. PT proceeding, which could have marked the first time the brothers have spoken publicly in years, were opened to the public through a lottery system. The brothers could be heard on the audio feed confirming they could hear audio from the courtroom.

Several people had already applied early on Monday for the 16 tickets that were available through the lottery.

The January sentencing hearing is likely to focus heavily on new evidence in the case, including a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano describing his father’s sexual abuse. More new evidence emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, recently came forward and said he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez when he was a teenager. Menudo was signed to RCA Records, where Jose Menendez was the operations manager.

The two pieces of evidence were not available during the brothers’ trial, allowing prosecutors to argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón recommended that Erik and Lyle Menendez be sentenced for the honor just two weeks ago. Now Gascón has lost the re-election campaign, and the city’s district attorney Nathan Hochman could withdraw the petition.

Gascón, LA County’s top prosecutor, was voted out of office in favor of Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and assistant US attorney general. Hochman was already expected to seek a delay in the sentencing hearing as he seeks to review the facts and evidence in the decades-old case, multiple sources close to the DA-elect told NBCLA.

“Judge Jesic’s decision to continue the hearing on the writ petition to January 30-31 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,” Hochman said Monday. “I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all the facts and the law to reach a fair and just decision and then defending it in court.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he will not consider clemency until the DA reviews the case.

Geragos said the brothers remain upbeat as the legal process unfolds around them. He hopes to have the brothers re-sentenced on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter based on the new evidence.

“I actually talk to them quite often,” Geragos said. “The attitude is, it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, to borrow a cliché. We’ve had all sorts of ups and downs.”