Erik and Lyle Menendez were part of a court hearing Monday about an upcoming resentencing hearing and other matters surrounding the murder conviction that put them behind bars for the 1989 shooting of their parents at the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.

The brothers could be heard, but not seen, on a feed from a San Diego jail. They were expected to appear on a video feed, but technical difficulties prevented them from being seen together in court for the first time in decades.

The status conference was scheduled to give the court an update on what happens next in the brothers’ case, including where things stand with their possible re-sentencing for the murders. Before the conference began, it was determined that a resentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 11 will be rescheduled for Jan. 30-31 to allow the newly elected Los Angeles County district attorney more time to study the case.

“We’re hoping that by the end of that, or some time sooner, we’ll get the brothers released,” attorney Mark Geragos said outside the courthouse.

The judge set a mid-January deadline for all parties to submit documents for the hearing, one of the avenues that could lead to their release from prison after serving 35 years of their life sentences.

The brothers were entitled to be present in the San Fernando Valley courtroom, but their attorney said Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, would be present online. There were no cameras in the courtroom, but illustrators provided drawings.

Menendez’s family members spoke at the hearing and begged the judge to release them, Geragos said. No decision was made on the defense’s efforts to reconvict the brothers – 21 and 18 when they killed their parents in 1989 – and possibly escape prison.

“It was a pretty moving experience,” Geragos said.

The hour-long hearing included testimony from two of the brothers’ aunts, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, and Terry Baralt, Jose’s older sister. They asked for the brothers’ release, saying they had served enough time.

“We really miss those who are no longer here,” said Terry Baralt, 85. “But we miss the children, too.”

“It’s time for them to come home.”

When asked by Brock Lunsford, chief deputy in the District Attorney’s Post-Conviction and Litigation Division, if she knew exactly why her cousins ​​were in jail, Baralt responded, “Absolutely. They killed their parents.”

VanderMolen, who turns 93 on Tuesday, read a statement to the court.

The Menendez brothers are back in court Monday, as is the illustrator of their second trial, Mona Shafer Edwards. Alex Rozier reports for NBC4 News at 4:00 PM on November 22, 2024.

“No child should have to go through what Lyle and Eric went through,” she said. “No child should have to live…knowing that their father was going to rape them at night. It’s time for them to come home.”

Status conferences usually deal with basic housekeeping matters such as scheduling that the court and attorneys need to discuss, but the Menendez brothers’ case has gained new attention following Netflix’s release of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and a recommendation from Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón that their sentences be shortened. If a judge ultimately agrees with the retiring district attorney, who was defeated in the November election, the brothers could be eligible for immediate parole.

The presence of the key figures at the center of the high-profile case in Los Angeles made this status conference unlike most others. Seating for the 10:30 a.m. PT proceeding, which could be the first time the brothers have spoken publicly in years, was opened to the public through a lottery system. The brothers were heard on the audio feed confirming they could hear audio from the courtroom.

Several people stood in line early on Monday for the 16 tickets available through the lottery.

The resentencing hearing in January will likely focus heavily on new evidence in the case, including a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his uncle Andy Cano in 1988 describing sexual abuse by his father. Even more new evidence emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin American pop group Menudo, recently came forward to say he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez as a teenager. Menudo was signed to RCA Records, where Jose Menendez was Chief Operating Officer.

The two pieces of evidence were not available during the brothers’ trial, allowing prosecutors to argue there was no confirmation of sexual abuse.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón recommended a new sentence for Erik and Lyle Menendez two weeks ago. Now Gascón has lost the re-election campaign and Nathan Hochman, the city’s elected district attorney, could withdraw the re-sentencing request.

Gascón, LA County’s top prosecutor, was voted out in favor of Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney general. Hochman was already expected to ask for a delay in the re-sentencing case as he seeks to review facts and evidence in the decades-old case, multiple sources close to the elected officer told NBCLA.

“Judge Jesic’s decision to continue the hearing on the motion for resentencing until January 30 and 31 will provide me with sufficient time to review the extensive jail records, transcripts from two lengthy trials and voluminous evidence, and to consult with prosecutors , law enforcement officers, defense counsel and family members of victims,” Hochman said Monday. “I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all the facts and the law to reach a fair and just decision, and then defending it in court.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he will not consider clemency until the district attorney’s office reviews the case.

Geragos said the brothers remain optimistic as the legal proceedings unfold around them. He hopes the brothers will be re-sentenced on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter based on the new evidence.

“I actually talk to them quite often,” Geragos said. “The attitude is that it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, to use a cliché. We’ve had all kinds of ups and downs.”