Menendez Brothers’ Resentencing Will Move Forward After Judge Denies DA’s Move to Withdraw

Los Angeles Judge Michael Jesic denied District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s request to withdraw the Menendez Brothers’ resentencing petition Friday.

This is the latest update after DA Hochman filed a motion to withdraw Erik and Lyle Menendez’s petition last month. The brothers appeared together virtually from their San Diego prison on Friday.

Their respective resentencing hearings will continue as scheduled next week on April 17 and 18 as the brothers hope to be resentenced to a lesser term, leading to a potential release or eligibility for parole. During next week’s hearing, the judge could deny resentencing entirely, resentence the brothers to 50-life or resentence them to time served.

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian presented for the prosecution, with Hochman seated front row behind him. Mark Geragos served as the brothers’ defense attorney, as many of their family members attended in support.

“Justice won over politics. It’s been a long time coming for anybody who’s been in the courtroom,” Geragos said, thanking Judge Jesic. “This is probably the biggest day since [the brothers] have been in custody.”

A California appeals court precedent requires a DA to offer a “legitimate reason” to withdraw a resentencing petition, and Judge Jesic found that the court precedent did not provide enough clarity to determine that the motion to withdraw was legitimate.

On March 10, Hochman reversed former district attorney George Gascón’s October 2024 support of the brothers’ resentencing. Gascón previously recommended that their life sentences be altered to 50-year murder charges with the possibility of parole – meaning that if their resentencing were granted, the Menendez brothers would be immediately eligible for parole.

During a daylong hearing Friday, the prosecution argued that the siblings had not shown they understood the “severity and depravity” of their actions.

After Judge Jesic rejected the withdrawal, the DA said his office’s position remains clear: “Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”

Last month, Hochman said that he would only change his stance if Lyle and Erik “sincerely and unequivocally admit, for the first time in over 30 years, the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it.”

With that said, Hochman did not outright dispute the Menendez brothers’ claims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father, he just argued that it was not an element of their initial defense and, therefore, not relevant to his decision. He added, “We would certainly look at the judge’s justification for any resentencing, and if the judge does his job and looks at all the factors and reaches a different conclusion than us, but one that the law also would support, we would not be in a position to appeal that.”

The brothers also filed a clemency request to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The clemency hearing is set to take place on June 13. In February, the governor ordered a parole board to perform a 90-day “risk assessment” evaluation into whether or not the brothers represent “an unreasonable risk to the public.”

The Friday update also came just days after two L.A. County deputy district attorneys sued Hochman for harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford claim they were sidelined by his office for recommending a resentencing trial under former DA Gascón’s leadership.

Hochman rejected the notion that his move to withdraw the resentencing petition was politically motivated.

“In denying our request to withdraw the prior DA’s resentencing motion, the Court rejected the Menendez brothers’ argument that our request was based just ‘on the political winds,’” the DA said in a press release Friday, “acknowledging that this Office has pursued an impartial, non-political agenda in this case grounded in the facts and the law.”

Lyle and Erik, now 57 and 54 years old, respectively, have been imprisoned since being found guilty of the 1989 double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Both were initially given life sentences without the possibility of parole in 1996 and have since become major aspects of pop culture.

“Monsters” actor Cooper Koch, who played Erik Menendez in the Netflix series, was in attendance at Friday’s hearing.

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