Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences without parole for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, will have to wait until the new year for a decision on their bid for release, with a judge Monday scheduling a hearing on the matter for late January.
Attorneys for the brothers are pursuing various avenues in hopes of securing their release from prison, contending that new evidence backs the brothers’ claims that they were sexually abused by their father.
The pair were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the chance of parole for killing Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion on Aug. 20, 1989.
During an hourlong hearing in Van Nuys, a judge heard testimony from two of the brothers’ aunts, both of whom pleaded for their release from prison. Judge Michael V. Jesic made no immediate decision, instead scheduling a two-day hearing for Jan. 30-31 to hear the various arguments in the case.
Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, and Terry Baralt, Jose’s older sister, asked for the brothers’ release, saying 35 years was enough prison time for Erik and Lyle Menendez considering the abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of their father.
“We miss those who are gone tremendously,” Terry Baralt, 85, testified. “But we miss the kids too.”
Baralt, who became emotional during her time on the stand, told the court that “it’s time for them to come home,” adding that the brothers “have done a lot of good things” while incarcerated.
Asked by Brock Lunsford, assistant head deputy of 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, imploring the judge to release the brothers.
“No child should have to endure what Lyle and Eric have lived through,” she said. “No child should have to live … knowing that at night, their father was going to rape them. It’s time for them to come home.”
VanderMolen said that she speaks for all members of her family apart from her brother Milton Andersen, Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, who has said through an attorney that his nephews’ “cold-blooded actions shattered their family.”
The January hearing will replace a previously scheduled Dec. 11 hearing, and will also allow newly elected District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who is set to be sworn in next week, more time to review the case. Current District Attorney George Gascón announced last month that he supports the resentencing of the brothers.
But Hochman has not yet said whether he will take a similar position in the case, saying he wants the chance to review the voluminous evidence before making a decision.
“Judge Jesic’s decision to continue the hearing on the resentencing motion to January 30-31 will provide me with 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 victim family members,” Hochman said in a statement Monday. “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.”
Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, both attended Monday’s hearing in Van Nuys via an audio link from prison in San Diego. They had been expected to appear via video, but the video link would not function in the courtroom. The brothers did not speak, other than acknowledging they were able to see and hear the proceeding.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos said after the hearing that it was “quite the moving experience” to hear two of the brothers’ aunts make “impassioned pleas with the judge to send the brothers home.”
“The judge has now set January 30th and 31st as the days for a … hearing on the resentencing,” Geragos said, adding that the judge has asserted full jurisdiction over the case. “He’s going to … ask for further briefing, and by January 30th or 31st, we’re hoping by the end of that or sometime sooner that we will in fact get the brothers released.”
Geragos is hoping to have the brothers resentenced on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter based on alleged new evidence of sexual abuse.
The defense filed a petition last year arguing that newly uncovered evidence bolsters defense allegations that the brothers were victims of sexual abuse.
In the court filing, Menendez attorneys 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 written by Erik Menendez to one of his cousins in early 1989, eight months before the August 1989 killings, 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.
Jose Menendez was an executive at RCA Records, which signed Menudo to a recording contract.
In announcing his support for resentencing, Gascón noted that, given the brothers’ ages at the time of the crime, a ruling to downgrade their charges would make them potentially immediately eligible for parole as youthful offenders, even though they have served only about 35 years behind bars.
Court papers filed by the District Attorney’s Office note that at the time of the crime, Erik was an 18-year-old who was preparing to attend UCLA in the fall, and Lyle Menendez was a 21-year-old Princeton University student.
The prosecutors wrote that “the childhood abuse and trauma incurred by both defendants in this case is sufficient to invoke court consideration” under a new law that allows resentencing in certain cases.
“Both men have been incredible contributions to the prison system as a whole and to their fellow inmates on a very personal level. Erik and Lyle Menendez have done and continue to do their good works and contributions, done without any expectation or hope of ever being released,” according to the filing. “They have used their time of incarceration well and now show that they are not a risk to public safety. Erik and Lyle Menendez both deserve a lesser sentence.”
Interest in the case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series.
The Menendez brothers’ defense team submitted papers to Gov. Gavin Newsom requesting clemency, but the governor said last week he would not make any decision on the request until Hochman has a chance to review the nearly 35-year-old case.
“The governor respects the role of the district attorney in ensuring justice is served and recognizes that voters have entrusted District Attorney-elect Hochman to carry out this responsibility,” a statement from the governor’s office said.
“The governor will defer to the DA-elect’s review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions.”
Gascón was handily defeated in his re-election bid by Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who campaigned on a tougher stance against crime. Hochman is set to take office in December.
During their two highly publicized trials, the brothers did not dispute that they killed their parents, but claimed self-defense, citing decades of alleged physical and sexual abuse by their father.