Erik Menendez and his brother Lyle Menendez will not be released from prison this year.

A Los Angeles judge today postponed a hearing on the siblings’ criminal case until January 30. A follow-up hearing will be scheduled for January as briefings have been requested from prosecutors and attorneys for the Menendezs.

Replacing the hearing previously held on December 11, the logic behind Judge Michael Jesic’s reasoning Monday is that new LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman needs time to review the high-profile case once he officially takes office on December 3.

During a slightly delayed hearing at the Van Nuys courthouse this morning, the brothers were scheduled to appear virtually from . However, hampered by technological glitches that meant the siblings were heard but not seen, the now fifty-year-old Menendez brothers’ first dueling appearance in nearly thirty years was a no-show in the less than hour-long session in the crowded courtroom.

After the hearing was over, Menendez attorney Mark said Geragos told the media: “We hope that by the end of this, or sometime before that, we will actually get the brothers released.” Naturally, Geragos also hoped that the press would be orderly in talking to senior Menendez family members who testified today, and that civility quickly collapsed as cameras chased the family members up the courthouse steps.

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