The Menendez brothers were part of a court hearing in Van Nuys. NBC4’s Eric Leonard explains what happened.
Prosecutors were expected to respond by Tuesday to a petition from Erik and Lyle Menendez related to their effort to challenge their 1996 murder convictions.
Tuesday is a deadline set by the court for the LA County District Attorney’s Office to file its briefing to the brothers’ petition for writ of habeas corpus.
The petition claims their convictions for fatally shooting their parents, as well as their life-without-the possibility-of-parole prison sentences, are unconstitutional in light of new evidence.
One piece of evidence is a letter that was allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin several months before the shotgun murders of their parents, with Erik discussing the childhood sexual abuse by his father, Jose Menendez.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
“Every night, I stay up, thinking (Jose) might come in,” Erik wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, in the letter. “(Jose) is crazy! He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.”
It’s not clear what the response from the District Attorney’s office will be given current DA George Gascón will be out of the office by early December after he lost reelection bid to Nathan Hochman.
In addition to their effort to overturn the murder conviction, the defense attorneys from the brothers are also seeking to resentencing based on the claims that they brothers were sexual abuse victims by their own father as well as their good behaviors in prison.
Current DA George Gascón DA had recommended the brothers’ sentences be reduced, which means they would be immediately eligible for parole. But as Gascón will be vacating the DA’s office in a week after losing to Nathan Hochman, a judge Monday moved the resentencing hearing to Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.
Hochman said the delay will give him enough time to go over the case.
"Judge (Michael) Jesic’s decision to continue the hearing on the resentencing motion to January 30-31 will provide me with sufficient time to review the extensive prison records, transcripts of two lengthy trials and voluminous exhibits, as well as consult with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel and victim family members,” Hochman said. “I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all the facts and the law to reach a fair and just decision, and then defend it in court."
