Judge postpones decision on a new sentence for the Menéndez brothers until the end of January

On Monday, a judge postponed until January his decision on whether to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion 35 years ago, crushing his family’s hope that the brothers would be releaseds and will return home for the holidays.

Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said at the hearing in Los Angeles that he needed time to review 17 boxes of documents and give a new district attorney in Los Angeles County time to evaluate the case.

“I’m not ready to move forward,” Jersic said, setting the hearing for the resentencing request for Jan. 30 instead of Dec. 11 as originally planned.

The brothers were scheduled to appear in court for the first time in decades at the hearing, but technical issues prevented them from appearing virtually from a San Diego jail. They were convicted of murdering José and Kitty Menéndez in 1989 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Although their defense lawyers argued at trial that their father had sexually abused them, prosecutors denied this and accused them of killing their parents for money. In the years that followed, they repeatedly appealed their convictions without success.

Now, at ages 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menéndez are making a new attempt to gain freedom. Her lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition (a request for a court to examine whether someone is being lawfully detained) in May 2023, asking a judge to consider new evidence of her father’s sexual abuse. The brothers are being held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Center in San Diego.

Jesic allowed the brothers’ two aunts to take the stand Monday after their attorney argued it was difficult for them to travel to the hearing.

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menéndez’s sister, who turns 93 on Tuesday, and Teresita Baralt, José’s older sister, who is 85, called for their release, saying 35 years was a long time for the siblings after suffering abuse when they were children. Andersen VanderMolen had said last month that he hoped his nephews would be freed and return home for his 93rd birthday on Tuesday or around the holidays.

Baralt noted that she was close to José and lived for years across the street from him and Kitty, whom Baralt described as her best friend.

“We miss those who are gone very much,” Baralt said through tears after taking the stand. “But we also miss the kids.”

Both aunts said they had maintained contact with the brothers, although they had not seen them.

The hearing ended after less than an hour. Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers, began to address the media outside the courthouse, but interrupted him and walked away as reporters mobbed him.

The recent releases of the Netflix drama “Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers” in 2024 brought renewed attention to their plight.

Rose Castillo, a 28-year-old true crime enthusiast, arrived from Miami five minutes late to participate in the lottery and win one of the few seats offered to the public to attend the hearing, but she saw the brothers’ relatives before to enter the court.

“That was crazy,” Castillo said.

A court bailiff told people to stop taking photos of family members as they waited in the hallway for the hearing to begin along with media and spectators.

Prosecutors recommended a new sentence for the brothers last month, saying they have worked on redemption and rehabilitation and have demonstrated good behavior inside prison.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón called for new sentences of 50 years to life in prison. This could make them immediately eligible for parole because they were under 26 when their parents were killed.

The brothers’ extended family has said they deserve to be free after decades behind bars. Several family members have said that in today’s world, which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse, the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Not all members of the Menéndez family support the new sentence. Attorneys for Milton Andersen, Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, filed a legal brief asking the court to uphold the brothers’ original punishment. “They shot his mother, Kitty, reloading the gun to ensure her death,” Andersen’s lawyers said in a statement last month. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was fair and the punishment fits the heinous crime.”

The new evidence includes a letter that Erik Menéndez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing the sexual abuse he had suffered at the hands of his father. The brothers asked their lawyers about it after it was mentioned on a Barbara Walters television special in 2015. The lawyers were unaware of the letter and realized it had not been presented at their trials, making it new evidence that they say corroborates allegations that Erik was sexually abused by his father.

More new evidence emerged when Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, recently came forward and said he had been drugged and raped by José Menéndez, the children’s father, when he was a teenager in the 1980s. Menudo he signed with RCA Records, where José Menéndez was the director of operations.

Rosselló spoke about his abuse in the Peacock docuseries “Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” and provided a signed statement to the brothers’ attorneys.

If this two pieces of evidence had been available during the brothers’ trial, prosecutors would not have been able to argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse, or that their father, José Menéndez, was not the “kind of man who” would abuse children, he argues. the request.

While clemency could be another path to freedom for the brothers, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week he won’t decide until incoming Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who takes office on the 2nd, December, review the case. Hochman, a Republican-turned-independent who unseated the progressive Gascón, has said he wants to carefully examine the evidence before making any decisions.

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