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A resentencing hearing for convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez will continue this week despite the state’s request to wait.
On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed a last-minute motion to delay Thursday’s courtroom proceedings, during which the incarcerated men will fight for relief from their life-without-parole sentences. Prosecutors claimed they needed more time to evaluate comprehensive risk assessments completed by prison and parole officials on behalf of California Governor Gavin Newsom, per NBC Los Angeles.
Early Thursday, local time, a Van Nuys judge denied the request, allowing the hearing to continue, according to Los Angeles’s KTLA.
Wall-to-wall coverage continues as the brothers, now 54 and 57, fight for release, nearly 30 years after they were found guilty of fatally shooting their parents, Kitty and José Menendez, inside their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989. First-term D.A. Nathan Hochman has vocally opposed leniency despite the men’s claims of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents.
The hearing is slated to continue Thursday and Friday, with the siblings appearing virtually from prison.
Why did prosecutors want to delay the Menendez brothers’ hearing?
Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian stated in Wednesday’s motion — formally submitted by Hochman — that it was “very important” the court obtain full copies of the assessments to continue, per KTLA.
Gov. Newsom, who wields the power to grant the men clemency, requested the reports in February to gauge whether Erik and Lyle Menendez posed a risk to the greater public, a common practice for potential parolees. But, according to NBC Los Angeles, the assessments were still in the prepping phase.
“The comprehensive risk assessment is not complete and it remains ongoing,” as so stated in a release from Newsom’s office.
Newsom said legal parties were privy to “one component” of the assessment 60 days in advance, in accordance with state law, so parties could amend if needed. According to the governor, Judge Jesic was notified of the status, though he cautioned it was “not a stand-alone risk assessment” and that it was expected to be finished by June 13, 2025.
The Menendez brothers’ attorneys speak out
Mark Geragos, representing the defendants, told reporters outside the courthouse Thursday morning that he found Hochman’s 11th-hour filing “appalling,” though he didn’t think the D.A.’s request would go through.
“There are people in this courtroom, or will be in this courtroom, that have been following these proceedings, that have lived this case for 35 years. They’re the victims. They have the unique situation of both being victims in this case and relatives of the defendants,” said Geragos. “Apparently, the D.A. has said he gets a constitutional hall pass from the doing anything regarding those victims, supporting those victims, notifying those victims, or anything else.”
On Monday, April 14, 2025, lawyers representing Lyle and Erik Menendez’s loved ones bashed D.A. Hochman for putting on a “grotesque spectacle” by showing graphic crime scene photos for all to see. They argued the sight caused the defendant’s 85-year-old aunt such distress that she had to be hospitalized.
What to expect as resentencing hearings continue
Courtroom proceedings will continue Thursday and Friday, one of several avenues the men can take as their campaign for freedom continues.
Failing outcomes favorable to the defendants in the next few days, clemency is still on the table, should Gov. Newsom agree to do so. Furthermore, the brothers can still bank on their 2023 writ of habeas corpus based on new evidence that could make it possible to face trial a third time.
More to come as Thursday’s hearing continues, albeit running behind schedule.
