Menendez brothers appear in court for the first time in 28 years

For the first time in 28 years, Erik and Lyle Menendez appeared in the courtroom. The brothers are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for shooting and killing their parents in the late ’80s.
Monday’s status hearing focused on the upcoming resentencing hearing that’s set for Dec. 11.
Criminal Defense Attorney David P. Shapiro believes if this crime had happened today, it would likely be a different situation.
“We’ve seen in the last couple of years a lot of progressive movement into youth offender parole, and in this situation, both brothers were under the age of 25 at the time these murders, or the time these crimes, were committed, so they normally would be eligible for youth offender parole,” he told 10News.
Shapiro says Monday’s hearing will decide whether both parties are ready to go, how many witnesses they will need, and how long this will take so all parties can prepare accordingly.
Next month’s hearing was set when Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón
. That’s when the judge will decide whether the special circumstances murder conviction should go away.
“Assuming the judge goes with that, as it relates to changing the sentence, gotta understand, they’re still going to be convicted of first-degree murder, but it takes away the special circumstances; it then makes them parole eligible. Then they’re eligible for youthful offender parole,” Shapiro explained.
Whichever direction things go, Shapiro says this case sheds light on the abuse the men experienced.
“There’s been an awakening, in many ways, to that this stuff actually does happen. It has happened. It’s been going on since the beginning of time, and people becoming more aware of it,” he said.
There’s a new DA, Nathan Hochman, now because Gascón lost in the November election. Hochman is still in the process of reviewing the case.
There is also a separate hearing scheduled for Tuesday, which will present the court with new evidence and ask the court to modify the brother’s sentence to make them parole eligible.