The Menendez brothers have been in jail for more than 30 years and they’ll have to wait a few months for their shot at freedom.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office announced on Friday that a resentencing hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez that was initially scheduled for this month will be pushed back until March. Hochman cited the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires as the reason for the delay.
The pair were sentenced to life behind bars in 1996 for killing their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. Allies of the Menendezes say prosecutors and the judge made several crucial errors in the case, including barring evidence detailing possible abuse from the brothers’ father.
The case caused a media frenzy in its day and returned to the public eye last September with the release of Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.” Though the brothers criticized their depiction in the series and showrunner Ryan Murphy, the series inspired advocates like Kim Kardashian to call for a reconsideration of their case.
The brothers, now in their 50s, requested a resentencing to their life sentences last year when evidence of their father’s alleged sexual abuse re-emerged.
Hochman’s predecessor, progressive D.A. George Gascón, recommended resentencing in October. Gascón would have sought a new sentence of 50 years to life, making the brothers parole-eligible immediately. Hochman ripped into the move at the time as a “desperate political ploy,” but met with supporters for the Menendezes in January.
“It was a very productive session where they gave me all their thoughts about what should happen in this case, their experiences that they wanted to share, the ultimate direction that they wanted this case to go,” Hochman told reporters in January, per local station KABC, though he didn’t announce whether his office would oppose a lighter sentence.
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