Major update in Menendez brothers case as pair face court

Lyle and Erik Menendez have faced court for the first time since their 1996 conviction for the murders of their parents as the campaign to free the brothers ramps up.

A judge has delayed a scheduled resentencing hearing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers sentenced to life in prison for murdering their parents in 1989.

Judge Michael Jesic said the hearing, which could lead to the brothers being freed after decades in prison and was originally scheduled for December 11, would be pushed to January 30.

The brothers, currently jailed in California, appeared virtually for the court hearing on Tuesday (AEDT), their first court appearance since their 1996 conviction.

Technical issues prevented them from being shown on video, CNN reports.

Erik Menendez and his brother Lyle, pictured at their original trial, faced court by videolink. Picture: AFP

Joan VanderMolen, the sister of Kitty Menendez and a longtime supporter of the brothers who wants to see them released, arrives at the Van Nuys West Courthouse to attend the hearing. Picture: AFP

“I want the new administration to be able to go through the documents and have a say,” Judge Michael Jesic said at the hearing in a Los Angeles County courtroom.

Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53,have spent 30 years behind bars after being found guilty of murdering their parents.

Entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife Kitty were gunned down by the brothers in the TV room of the family’s Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.

The brothers during their original trial. Picture: Getty Images

The 1989 murders shocked the US and the pair’s blockbuster televised trial in the 1990s became almost compulsory viewing for millions.

Prosecutors painted the crime as a cold-hearted bid by the then-young men — Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 — to get their hands on their parents’ fortune.

But their lawyers described the 1989 killings as an act of desperate self-defence by young men subjected to years of sexual abuse and psychological violence at the hands of an abusive father and a complicit mother.

The brothers were tried together in 1993 but in front of separate juries, each of which deadlocked.

After a mistrial was declared, they were tried a second time and much of the testimony and evidence about the claims that Jose Menendez had sexually abused his sons was excluded.

In 1996, the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The case saw a huge surge of renewed interest this year with the release of the Netflix hit Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, starring Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez, Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle and Cooper Koch as Erik.

The hearing comes after a campaign to secure their release, supported by Kim Kardashian and other celebrities.

“Set them free before the Holidays!” wrote Tammi Menendez, who has been married to Erik since 1999, on social media last week.

Nick Bonanno, a former high school classmate of Erik’s, was the first to arrive at the court for the hearing, taking his place at the head of the line.

“I wanted to show support to... Erik and Lyle,” he told AFP. “It’s all about supporting and healing, not just for the families, but for us as a culture.”

The Menendez family had a picture-perfect image but sons Lyle and Erik claim they were subjected to horrific abuse. Picture: Screengrab/abc news

Jose Menendez with sons Erik and Lyle as children.

A group takes a selfie outside the Menendez death house, which has become a macabre drawcard for tourists in Beverly Hills. Picture: AFP

It comes after Lyle’s wife, Rebecca Sneed, who he married in 2003, shared in a post on Facebook that they were separating after 21 years, with the information verified by the brother’s lawyer to NBC news.

The push to re-examine the case began in 2023, when a Peacock docuseries featured another alleged victim, Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin boyband Menudo, saying he was raped by Jose Menendez when he was aged 13.

Lawyers for the Menendez brothers filed a habeas petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction and sentence in light of new evidence from the other alleged victim and from a letter Erik wrote about the abuse prior to the killings.

With excitement over the case near fever pitch, tourists are regularly making pilgrimages to the Beverly Hills home where the killings took place.

Australian Christian Hannah, who was born almost two decades after the double murders, made sure the home was a stop on his tour of celebrity hotspots, because of his fascination with the Netflix show.

“It’s really awesome seeing it in person,” he told AFP.

“It’s just because you see it on TV and you see it in person, just feels really cool.”

— with AFP

Originally published as Major update in Menendez brothers case as pair face court