Menendez brothers resentencing battle heats up as Los Angeles judge weighs risk

The Menendez brother's attorney says he is confident that Los Angeles Judge Michael Jesic will do the “right thing," downplaying the brother's use of contraband during their sentence.

“The presumption is that unless Eric or Lyle are likely to commit a super strike, which nobody has suggested, that they should be re-sentenced,” Mark Geragos, the Menendez family attorney, told reporters following the Friday hearing. “We have the utmost faith in Judge Jesic to do the right thing, that next Wednesday or Tuesday, that they will be re-sentenced.”

Pointing to Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman's statement on the brother's use of cell phones in prison, Geragos said that former LA DA George Gascón was aware of the violations.

“Last time I looked, cell phones in prison are not a super strike," he said. “The cell phone violations were known. I was the one who called the previous DA and said there's a cell phone violation.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the Lyle and Erik Menendez's “narcissistic tendencies” led him to oppose their immediate resentencing.

Hochman, referring to the Comprehensive Risk Assessment (CRA), said that Lyle was caught with contraband, his cell phone, on Nov. 24, 2024. The DA said that he should have been on his best behavior since his resentencing was on the table.

Instead, Hochman said, he proved that “he is more likely to do whatever it takes to meet his own needs and has narcissistic tendencies.”

In Jan. 2025, Erik was found to be conspiring with someone out of prison with an illicit cell phone. Erik, the CRA report found, according to Hochman, had also traded and purchased drugs in prison and admitted to giving tax fraud advice to other inmates.

Despite their prison reform program involvement, Hochman said that the brothers are unable to self-monitor and he has lingering doubts about their intentions and genuineness. Hochman said based on all those findings, he did not feel the brothers were ready for resentencing right now.

Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

Exteriors of the front of the Menendez family's former mansion in 1989.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that there are “significant lies” that Lyle and Erik Menendez have “never come clean with.”

“You add in the findings now by these board-certified psychologists that also talk about deceit. Deceit means that they no longer constitute at a low level of risk, but have risen to a moderate level of risks,” Hochman told reporters following the brother's Los Angeles hearing on Friday.

The Comprehensive Risk Assessment (CRA) report was ordered by the state parole board earlier this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom as part of his clemency consideration for the brother's bid for resentencing.

Hochman said the report cited rules violations by the brothers, including their use of cellphones, assisting a fellow inmate in tax fraud and use of contraband while behind bars.

“They determined that each of the Menendez brothers constituted as a moderate risk of violence, which was higher than the prior determinations of low risk of violence,” he said. “They said they referred to certain instances that led them to those conclusions.”

Supporters of the Menendez brothers arrive to court in Los Angeles, Ca Friday, May 9 2025. (Fox News Digital)

On Friday, the Menendez family arrived at the Van Nuys West Courthouse in Los Angeles, Calif.

The courtroom was filled with anticipation as family members and media gathered to witness the proceedings of the brothers potential resentencing in the 1989 killings of their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez.

The family members have emphasized the brothers’ remorse and rehabilitation after more than three decades in prison and their belief that the original 1993 trial didn't fully take in the alleged abuse Lyle and Erik suffered at the hands of their father, José.

The family-led coalition has said that their belief that the pair of killers should be released is not a denial of the pain caused by the murders, but rather a recognition of whom the brothers have become.

“The DA’s office may think that we blindly decided to forgive Erik and Lyle, but our journey to forgiveness was not linear," the family said in a statement on Thursday, a day before the rescheduled hearing. "It’s a direct result of the men they have become… Both of those feelings and experiences can exist in the same space.”

While the majority of the family supports the resentencing, Milton Andersen, the brother of Kitty Menendez, has expressed his opposition. Andersen died at 91-years-old from cancer in early March 2025.

Just hours before a highly anticipated court hearing in the Menendez brothers’ resentencing case, the brother's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, threw a curveball when suggesting he may no longer want Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman removed from the case after all.

When asked whether he believed his motion to disqualify the DA would succeed by Fox News' Jonathan Hunt, Geragos replied: “I’m not so sure I want that anymore.”

Pressed further on why he might back off a motion he’s spent weeks building, Geragos simply said: “You’ll have to wait and see.”

The motion to recuse Hochman had been expected to take center stage at Friday’s hearing.

Fox News' Jonathan Hunt contributed to this report.

Portrait of Lyle Menendez. (Photo by Kim Kulish/Sygma via Getty Images)

As the Menendez brothers returned to court in their long-running fight for a reduced sentence, Lyle Menendez took to social media to lambaste the “reindeer games” played by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.

“So today is the day that issues will be worked out,” he wrote in a Facebook group. “The motion to disqualify the DA will be heard and very very likely will be denied. Then, in chambers, issues regarding the CRA [Comprehensive Risk Assessment] will be decided.”

The court is expected to rule on two key issues: a motion to recuse District Attorney Nathan Hochman and whether a confidential Comprehensive Risk Assessment (CRA) can be considered in court. The CRA has been a source of controversy after the prosecution publicly referenced its contents before the defense had access.

The older brother wrote that he is “hopeful” that the resentencing hearing date will be set for next week.

“Barring any reindeer games, and in this case that is certainly not a given, a new resentencing hearing date will be assigned, and we are hopeful that it will be next week,” he wrote. “We will wait for the judge to make it official.”

The brothers, who have now served over three decades in prison, are seeking a chance at parole under updated California laws recognizing the impact of youth and trauma in sentencing.

Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

Family and supporters of Erik and Lyle Menendez stand outside the courthouse after a hearing in the brothers' case Friday, April 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

On the eve of a critical hearing that could reshape the future of killer brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez’s legal journey, the family behind the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition called for the recusal of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

The family coalition has been vocal about what they describe as a pattern of overreach by the DA Nathan Hochman's office.

“The issue is not about what the [risk assessment] contains or how District Attorney Hochman chooses to characterize Erik and Lyle,” the family wrote in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “We know who they are, how much they’ve grown, how remorseful they are… The issue is that the DA once again tried to box us in and put the cart before the horse.”

Their frustrations came to a head last month, when Hochman held a press conference speaking publicly about a draft risk assessment (CRA) tied to the Menendez brothers.

They likened the situation to “walking into a job interview and finding out your therapy notes had already been shared with the employer.”

The Menendez family coalition argued that the DA's office has exhibited a pattern of behavior to “tilt the scales of justice.”

One family member, however, objected to the resentencing and filed an amicus brief in opposition through his attorney, Kathleen Cady. 

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman talks about the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez for the murders of their parents decades ago during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The resentencing hearing for Lyle and Erik Menendez was originally set to continue in April 2025 but was unexpectedly delayed due to unresolved legal disputes.

The brothers' defense team sought to disqualify the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office from the case, citing alleged bias and a conflict of interest. The DA's office, led by Nathan Hochman, called the move a “desperate argument.”

"In the opposition, the District Attorney’s Office has argued that in a ‘drastic and desperate step,’ the defense has decided to ‘sidestep the central issue of resentencing’ and present an argument ‘devoid of merit’ to recuse the entire District Attorney’s Office," Hochman said. "The entire defense argument over recusal boils down to the defense not being happy with the current District Attorney’s position on resentencing. While this desperate argument may work in a press interview, it fails in a court of law based on an adversarial system of justice."

Erik and Lyle Menendez's state parole board risk assessment also remains central to the delayed hearing. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the test to determine an inmate’s potential risk to public safety if released.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said that the discussions over the admissibility of the state parole board’s comprehensive risk assessments will be considered on Friday.

Both issues caused the hearing to come to a screeching halt and begin proceedings for Friday, May 9.

This combination of two booking photos provided by the California Department of Corrections shows Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez.

More than three decades after Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents in a case that captivated the nation, the brothers are once again at the center.

In 1989, the Menendez brothers shot and killed their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion. The prosecution painted the brothers as spoiled heirs. The defense, led by attorney Leslie Abramson, argued they acted out of desperation after enduring years of abuse at the hands of their father.

Despite a highly publicized trial, which included two hung juries, they were ultimately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The pair surged back into the spotlight when, in October 2024, Netflix released a true-crime documentary titled The Menendez Brothers, and in September 2024, the series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story reignited interest in the case.

The series sparked renewed debates of alleged child abuse and the fairness of their initial trial. The timing came as former DA George Gascón opened the door for clemency.

However, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, now led by Nathan Hochman, has opposed this effort, claiming the brothers still haven't accepted full responsibility for their actions.