Menendez brothers resentencing hearing postponed following Los Angeles Wildfires
The judge overseeing the Menendez brothers' resentencing postponed their next hearing following the devastating fires in Los Angeles County.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced that the hearing will be on March 20 and 21 rather than the originally scheduled Jan. 30 and 31. His office said LA Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic met with both sides and rescheduled the hearing to allow the parties to adequately prepare.
Just over a week ago, on Jan. 7., destructive Santa Ana winds fueled the Eaton Fire in the northeast portion of the county near Pasadena and the Palisades Fire in the coastal community of Pacific Palisades. The two destructive fires, and other smaller ones across the county, killed more than two dozen people and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes.
Entire neighborhoods are decimated and as of Friday, 10,694 structures have been confirmed destroyed, making the two fires the most destructive and deadliest in the state's history. Firefighters have just started lifting evacuation orders and warnings after containing the flames this week.
Erik and Lyle Menendez made their first court appearance in years in November 2024 after their attorneys requested that a judge review potential new evidence and consider resentencing the brothers' first-degree murder convictions for the 1989 killings of their parents.
The 21-page petition states that the evidence helps show that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense, and undercuts the prosecution's argument during the second trial that the brothers were lying about the abuse and the killings were motivated by greed.
"It was the first time that Lyle and Erik have been, at least remotely, in a courtroom in a number of years," said the brothers' attorney, Mark Geragos following the November hearing.
Before taking office, Hochman vowed to only ask fore more time to review the case and "wouldn't delay for delay's sake."
"As far as the timing goes, if we do need more time to formulate a thorough position on this issue, then I would ask the court, most likely, for additional time," Hochman said in a Nov. 7 interview. "And I wouldn't engage in delay for delay's sake because this case is too important to the Menendez brothers. It's too important to the victims' family members. It's too important to the public to delay more than necessary to do the review that people should expect from a district attorney."