Menendez brothers join court hearing together for first time in decades

Erik and Lyle Menendez participated in a court hearing Monday on an upcoming re-sentencing hearing and other matters surrounding the murder conviction that placed them behind bars for the 1989 shooting deaths of their parents at the family's Beverly Hills mansion.

The brothers could be heard, but not seen, on a feed from a San Diego prison. They were expected to appear on a video feed, but technical problems prevented them from being seen together in court for the first time 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. Before the conference began, it was determined that a re-sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 11 will be re-scheduled for Jan. 30 and 31 to allow the newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney more time to study the case.

"We're hoping by the end of that, or some time sooner, we will get the brothers released," attorney Mark Geragos said outside the courthouse.

The judge set a deadline of mid-January for all parties to file documents for the hearing, one of the avenues that could lead to their release from prison after serving 35 years of their life sentences.

The brothers had the right to be in attendance in the San Fernando Valley courtroom, but their attorney said Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, would attend online. There were no cameras in the courtroom, but sketch artists provided drawings.

Menendez family members spoke during the hearing, pleading with the judge to release them, Geragos said. No decision was made on the defense effort to have the brothers -- 21 and 18 when they killed their parents in 1989 -- re-sentenced and potentially released from prison.

"It was quite a moving experience," Geragos said.

The hourlong hearing included testimony from two of the brothers' aunts, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez's sister, and Terry Baralt, Jose's older sister. They asked for the brothers' release and said they've served enough time.

"We miss those who are gone tremendously," Terry Baralt, 85, said. "But we miss the kids too."

"It's time for them to come home."

Asked by Brock Lunsford, assistant head deputy of the District Attorney's Post-Conviction and Litigation unit, if she knew exactly why her nephews were in prison, Baralt replied, "Absolutely. They killed their parents."

VanderMolen, who turns 93 on Tuesday, read a statement to the court.

"No child should have to endure what Lyle and Eric have lived through," she said. "No child should have to live … knowing that at night, their father was going to rape them. It's time for them to come home."

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.

The presence of the key figures at the center of the high-profile Los Angeles case made this status conference unlike most others. Seats for the 10:30 a.m. PT proceeding, which could have marked the first time the brothers have spoken publicly in years, were opened to the public through a lottery system. The brothers could be heard on the audio feed confirming they could hear audio from the courtroom.

Several people had already lined up early Monday for the 16 tickets available through the lottery.

The January re-sentencing hearing will likely focus heavily 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.

Gascón, LA County's top prosecutor, was voted out of office in favor of Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney General. Hochman was already expected to seek a delay in the re-sentencing case as he seeks to review facts and evidence in the decades-old case, multiple sources close to the DA-elect told NBCLA.

"Judge Jesic’s decision to continue the hearing on the resentencing motion to January 30-31 will provide me with sufficient time to review the extensive prison records, transcripts of two lengthy trials and voluminous exhibits, as well as consult with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel and victim family members," Hochman said Monday. "I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all the facts and the law to reach a fair and just decision, and then defend it in court."

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. He is hoping to have the brothers re-sentenced on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter based on the new evidence.

"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."