Menendez brothers' resentencing hearing delayed by judge to January

The Menendez brothers will stay in prison for at least a couple of more months after a Los Angeles judge delayed their resentencing hearing, as per New York Times. Erik and Lyle Menendez are serving life in prison without parole after murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.

However, the highly anticipated hearing to decide whether the Menendez Brothers should be given parole after 30 years in jail has now been delayed. Instead of the original December 18 schedule, it will now be on January 30.

On Monday, November 25, Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic requested the delay during the hearing in Los Angeles. He said:

"I'm not ready to go forward."

Jesic noted that he needed time to review around 17 boxes of documents and for the new Los Angeles County district attorney, Nathan Hochman, to weigh in on the Menendez Brothers' case.

Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menendez were scheduled to be seen in court for the first time during the hearing. However, technical problems at the San Diego prison prevented them from appearing virtually.

The brothers are currently detained at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

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Menendez Brothers' family asked for their release amid resentencing delays

During the hearing on Monday, Judge Micahel Jesic allowed the Menendez brothers' two aunts to take a stand after their lawyers made a case about how it was difficult for them to travel and go into the hearing.

85-year-old Teresita Baralt, Jose's older sister, and 93-year-old Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez's sister, both asked the judge for the brothers' release.

Baralt testified through tears, noting that she was close to her brother and his wife, whom she said was her best friend. However, she thinks that 35 years in prison was a long time for the abused brothers to suffer, adding:

"We miss those who are gone tremendously. But we miss the kids too."

Elsewhere during the Monday hearing, Joan VanderMolen also pleaded to the judge to give the brothers their freedom because "it's time for them to come home" after decades in jail. She also testified about her sister knowing about the kids' abuse, saying:

"It breaks my heart that my sister Kitty knew what was happening and did nothing about it, that we knew of... They never knew if tonight would be the night they would be r*ped. It's time for them to come home."

The Menendez brothers' 93-year-old aunt further stated:

"No child should have to endure what Lyle and Erik had to at the hands of their father."

The status hearing comes a month after Lyle and Erik Menendez filed a habeas corpus petition to have a judge review new evidence about their father's alleged s*xual abuse. There were two pieces of evidence, which were reportedly not presented on trial, pointed out in their petition.

The first one was the letter Erik supposedly wrote to his uncle Andy Cano in 1988, where he described the alleged abuse he suffered from his father. Latin pop group Menudo's Roy Rossello's accounts also serve as new evidence, where he alleges that Jose, who was COO of RCA Records who signed Menudo, drugged and r*ped him.

Rossello spoke about the alleged abuse in the docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed in Peacock. He also signed a declaration to the Menendez brothers' attorneys to help with the trial.