A judge postponed a hearing that could lead to a prison release for Erik and Lyle Menendez, brothers who were convicted of the 1989 killing of their parents in California. Judge Michael Jesic in Los Angeles said a resentencing hearing would be held Jan. 30 and 31 to give the newly elected Los Angeles district attorney time to review the case, reports the Wall Street Journal. The hearing was originally scheduled for Dec. 11.
“We’re hoping that by the end of that, or sometime sooner, we will in fact get the brothers released,” said the brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos. A Monday hearing attracted TV cameras and selfie-taking spectators outside the courthouse. The brothers say they should be freed based on new evidence their father was abusive. Erik Menendez told a friend months before the murder that he was scared of his father.
The brothers, who were sentenced to life in prison without parole, said they were the victims of repeated sexual abuse and shot their parents in self-defense. They have served 35 years in prison for first-degree murder. Both are now in their 50s. Calls for their case to be re-examined grew after Netflix released a documentary about them this fall. Outgoing Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has said the brothers paid their debt to society and wouldn’t pose a danger to others. His successor, Nathan Hochman, who will begin his term as district attorney next week, said would review the case himself to see if the brothers should be resentenced. The Menendez brothers became household names in the 1990s, when their trials were aired on TV. The case was hard to ignore: two young, handsome brothers who killed their wealthy parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion. In September, Netflix released “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The show, prompted calls for a re-examination of the case from those who said the sexual-abuse allegations should have played a larger role in the sentencing.
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