A Los Angeles judge ruled that a resentencing hearing for Lyle and Erik Menendez can proceed, rejecting an effort by the district attorney to withdraw a motion to reconsider the brothers lifetime punishment, according to the AP.
The judge, Michael Jesic, made his ruling following a day-long hearing, one that saw the brothers appear via remote video. Cooper Koch, who played Lyle Menendez in the recent Netflix series, appeared at the hearing.
A resentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 17-18. But the fate of the brothers may ultimately be in the hands of Governor Gavin Newsom, who said that the brothers will appear before a parole board on June 13. A report then will be submitted to him.
“We will submit that report to the judge for the resentencing, and that will weigh into our independent analysis of whether or not to move forward with the clemency application to support a commutation of this case,” Newsom said on his podcast.
The hearing was to determine whether District Attorney Nathan Hochman could drop a resentencing motion, reversing the action taken by his predecessor.
In a lengthy press conference last month, Hochman said that he concluded that the brothers “do not meet the standards for rehabilitation.”
“They have not exhibited the full insights and accepted complete responsibility for their actions,” he said.
The Menendez brothers were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents.
The brothers have stepped back into the headlines in no small part due to Ryan Murphy and Netflix’s hit series Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story and several documentaries reexamining their cases.
More to come.
