Resentencing hearings for Erik and Lyle Menendez will finally move forward next week after a series of delays.
The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home.
The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings. Defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic on Friday set their resentencing hearings for next Tuesday and Wednesday.
The hearing was supposed to address the brothers’ request to remove the Los Angeles district attorney’s office from the case, but defense attorneys withdrew their motion.
Jesic, meanwhile, rejected prosecutors’ efforts to withdraw the resentencing petition that had been filed by the previous district attorney.
Next week, the judge will hear arguments on the key question: Have Erik and Lyle Menendez been rehabilitated during 30 years in prison.
Since their conviction, the brothers have received an education, participated in self-help classes and started support groups for their fellow inmates.
The extended Menendez family, with the exception of an uncle who died last month, has said they fully forgive the brothers for what they did and want them to be freed. Defense attorney Mark Geragos plans to call seven family members to testify at the hearings.
If the brothers are resentenced, they could become immediately eligible for parole. The state parole board would ultimately make that decision.
Former LA County District Attorney George Gascón had opened the door to the possible release of the brothers last October by requesting their sentences be reduced to 50 years with the possibility of parole.
His office argued that the case would’ve been handled differently today due to modern understandings of sexual abuse and trauma, and the brothers’ rehabilitation during their 30 years in prison.
But current district attorney Nathan Hochman reversed course and opposed the brothers’ resentencing. He has argued that the brothers have not taken full responsibility for their crimes because they have not admitted to lies told during their trials.
“They’re not ready” to be resentenced, Hochman told the judge Friday.
Hochman cited risk assessment reports of the brothers conducted by a forensic psychologist for the parole board that concluded the men were “moderately more likely” to engage in violence in the community.
But Jesic didn’t see anything particularly troubling in the report.
The Menendez brothers are still awaiting the full results of a state parole board risk assessment ordered by the office of Governor Gavin Newsom, who could still opt to grant the brothers clemency.
