What to Know
- Erik and Lyle Menendez are expected to appear via video feed from prison for a court hearing Monday in Van Nuys.
- The status conference, which usually involves basic housekeeping matters for the court, was scheduled to provide an update on what happens next in the brothers' high-profile case.
- Seats for the 10:30 a.m. PT proceeding, which could mark the first time the brothers have spoken publicly in years, were opened to the public through a lottery system.
- Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón's re-sentencing recommendation announced in October is among matters likely to be discussed at the conference.
- A re-sentencing hearing, one legal avenue to the brothers' release, is scheduled for Dec. 11.
Erik and Lyle Menendez are expected appear in court Monday when a status conference is scheduled for the brothers who have been behind bars for 30 years in the shooting deaths of their parents at the family's Beverly Hills mansion.
A status conference is scheduled for Monday morning at a courthouse in Van Nuys, where the brothers are expected to appear on a video feed from the San Diego prison where they are serving life sentences for the 1989 shotgun murders of parents, Jose and Kitty. The appearance will be their first together in a courtroom in decades.
The status conference was scheduled to provide a court update on what happens next in the brothers' case, including where things stand with their possible re-sentencing for the killings.
The brother had the right to be in attendance in the San Fernando Valley courtroom, but their attorney said Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, will attend online.
"My office submitted forms so they would not have to be dragged up here (in LA County) at taxpayer expense and back," defense attorney Mark Geragos said.
There will be no cameras in the courtroom, but sketch artists will provide drawings.
Status conferences usually involve basic housekeeping matters like scheduling for the court and attorneys to discuss, but the Menendez brothers case has received 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 eventually agrees with the outgoing district attorney, who was defeated in the November election, the brothers could be eligible for immediate parole.
They were 21 and 18 when they killed their parents in 1989.
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The presence of the key figures at the center of the high-profile Los Angeles case makes this status conference unlike most others. Seats for the 10:30 a.m. PT proceeding, which could mark the first time the brothers have spoken publicly in years, were opened to the public through a lottery system.
Several people had already lined up early Monday for the 16 tickets available through the lottery.
"This is called a status conference and, usually, in a status conference the judge says, 'Well, thanks for coming down. Get your calendars out,'" said NBCLA legal analyst Royal Oakes. "Sometimes, the judge actually decides substantive issues. It is possible, although unlikely, the could say, 'I've read a lot about this case. I'm springing these brothers, right now.' Unlikely.
"More likely would be in the judge says, 'I'm not going to do it today, but I have to tell you… I'm inclined to release them. So whoever wants to keep them behind bars, you better make a persuasive case.' That would be the dream scenario for the Menendez brothers."
The judge also could weigh in on new evidence in the case, including a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing sexual abuse by his father. More new evidence emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, recently came forward saying he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez when he was a teen. Menudo was signed under RCA Records, where Jose Menendez was chief operating officer.
The two pieces of evidence were not available during the brothers' trial, which allowed prosecutors to argue there was no corroboration of sexual abuse.
The re-sentencing hearing, one legal avenue to the brothers' release, is scheduled for Dec. 11. Geragos said the parties involved in Monday's hearing will likely confirm or change the upcoming resentencing hearing date initially set before the Nov. 5 election.
“I sometimes call (it) housekeeping,” said Geragos of Monday's hearing, “(We’ll discuss,) ‘Do we meet on the 11th? Do we have enough time? How many witnesses will decide?’”
Gascón was voted out of office in favor of Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney General. Hochman will likely seek a delay in the re-sentencing case at the December hearing as he seeks to review facts and evidence in the decades-old case, multiple sources close to the DA-elect told NBCLA.
The Menendez brothers case will be part of a second court proceeding Tuesday to discuss the 2023 petition for a writ of habeas corpus that claims their convictions and prison sentences are unconstitutional in light of what they said is newly uncovered evidence of childhood sexual abuse by their father. Tuesday is the deadline for the district attorney to respond to the habeas petition.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he will not consider clemency until the DA reviews the case.
Geragos said the brothers remain optimistic as the legal process plays out around them.
"I speak with them quite often actually," Geragos said. "The attitude is, it's been a roller coaster of emotion, to borrow a cliché. We've had all kinds of ups and downs."
