After roughly three decades behind bars, the Menendez brothers are one step closer in their bid for freedom after a judge gave them the greenlight. Camilla Rambaldi reports for the NBC4 News at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 14, 2025.
Family members of Lyle and Erik Menendez filed a complaint and motion Tuesday over a bloody crime scene photo displayed during a presentation last week by prosecutors at a hearing on the brothers' resentencing.
An attorney representing the family members said in the court documents that the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office needlessly showed the photo without any advance notice. The motion asks Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic to admonish the District Attorney's Office for its conduct and to require the district attorney to provide family members with advance notice of exhibits or other evidence it intends to introduce moving forward.
A potential resentencing hearing for the brothers, who are serving life sentences for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents at the family's Beverly Hills mansion, is scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Van Nuys. The judge allowed the hearing to move forward after hearing from the prosecution and attorneys for the brothers last week, when prosecutors displayed the crime scene photo of Jose Menendez dead on a couch, covered in blood, on a screen inside the packed Van Nuys courtroom.
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The motion filed by the Menendez brothers' family said prosecutors "owe the victims' family members an apology for their scandalous behavior."
Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, who argued that the brothers should remain behind bars, apologized in court after one of the brothers' attorneys, Mark Geragos, objected to the display of the graphic photo "without warning."
The District Attorney's Office could not be reached for immediate comment on the family members' motion.
Inn a statement issued Sunday, the DA's office said, "We never intend to cause distress or pain to individuals who attend a court hearing. We understand the nature of the evidence of these heinous double murders was deeply emotional. However, by design these hearings are intended to be a place where the truth, no matter how painful, is brought to light. That truth starts with the abject brutality and premeditation of the murders themselves.
"To the extent that the photographic depiction of this conduct upset any of the Menendez family members present in court, we apologize for not giving prior warning that the conduct would be described in detail not only in words but also through a crime scene photo … We caution anyone attending a hearing in person to be prepared for some of the difficult details and images surrounding these tragic circumstances."
A potential re-sentencing hearing is set to begin Thursday for the two brothers. The judge is expected to hear arguments on the brothers' suitability for resentencing.
At the hearing last week, the judge rejected a bid by District Attorney Nathan Hochman's office to withdraw an earlier motion by prior District Attorney George Gascón supporting re-sentencing for the two.
Hochman, who opposes the brothers' release from prison, defeated the incumbent in the November election.
Attorneys for Erik Menendez, 54, and Lyle Menendez, 57, are hoping to have them re-sentenced to a lesser term, either allowing them to be released or become eligible for parole. The two claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.
