A re-sentencing hearing is set to begin Thursday morning in Van Nuys for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shotgun killings of their parents at the family’s Beverly Hills mansion more than three decades ago.
The hearing — which is expected to continue Friday — comes just under a week after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic denied a request by the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office to withdraw a motion filed under prior D.A. George Gascón’s administration that supported re-sentencing for Erik Menendez, now 54, and Lyle Menendez, now 57.
The district attorney’s office filed a new motion Wednesday night asking the judge to delay the hearing until the court can review a recently released parole board assessment.
Prosecutors are objecting to the pair being re-sentenced for the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
Attorneys representing the brothers are hoping to have them re-sentenced to a lesser term, either allowing them to be released or become eligible for parole.
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Anamaria Baralt, center, and other family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez arrive in court for a hearing in their case Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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Anamaria Baralt, center, and other family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez arrive in court for a hearing in their case Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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The two claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.
The brothers, sitting side by side in prison blues, appeared last Friday at the hearing via Zoom from the San Diego prison where they are incarcerated, but they did not make any statements.
“They’ve waited a long time to get some justice,” attorney Mark Geragos said after last Friday’s hearing. “Justice won over politics.”
He had said during last week’s hearing that the brothers “have done more good (and) helped more prisoners” than anyone could expect during their 35 years behind bars.
Following the judge’s ruling, new District Attorney Nathan Hochman issued a statement saying his office has been prepared to make its case at a re-sentencing hearing, and the fact that such a hearing will be held this week “is not unexpected.” But he said prosecutors will continue to oppose their release.
“These murders were calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded killings,” Hochman said. “Our position remains clear: Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”
In court papers this week, a lawyer representing nearly 20 of the brothers’ family members alleged that the District Attorney’s Office needlessly showed a bloody crime scene photo without any advance notice during last week’s hearing.
“The victims’ family members were shocked, sickened, and traumatized by the District Attorney’s callous act,” the family’s attorney, Bryan J. Freedman wrote, adding that Jose Menendez’s 85-year-old sister, Terry Baralt, “experienced such severe emotional distress” that she was hospitalized soon afterward.
“Here, it is patently obvious that the district attorney treated the victims’ family members as second-class victims, due to a policy disagreement between District Attorney Hochman and the victims’ family members,” Freedman added. “The district attorney represents all victims, not simply those that share the office’s policy views.”
Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian had apologized in court to the victims’ family after Geragos objected to the prosecution’s display of the graphic photo “without warning” to family members.
“To the extent that the photographic depiction of this conduct upset any of the Menendez family members present in court, we apologize for not giving prior warning that the conduct would be described in detail not only in words but also through a crime scene photo,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a lengthy statement.
“In light of recent events and out of respect for the victims’ families, we determined that we will not present crime scene photographs in upcoming hearings. … We caution anyone attending a hearing in person to be prepared for some of the difficult details and images surrounding these tragic circumstances,” according to the statement.
One of the brothers’ cousins, Anamaria Baralt, who has been a vocal advocate for the two, said they have shown “remorse and rehabilitation” while imprisoned, and “have repeatedly taken responsibility” for their crimes.
Meanwhile, state parole boards will conduct separate hearings for the brothers on June 13, then send their reports to Gov. Gavin Newsom to help him decide whether the two should receive clemency, the governor said.
In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers’ allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father — a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, 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 teenager.
Interest in the case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series.
The governor said that with the exception of brief clips on social media he has not watched dramatizations of the Menendez case or documentaries on it “because I don’t want to be influenced by them.”
“I just want to be influenced by the facts,” Newsom said.
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