VAN NUYS (CNS) - Erik and Lyle Menendez's bid for freedom was on indefinite hold Friday, following an emotional day in court that ended when a judge scheduled a May 9 motions hearing to discuss the admissibility of a state parole board risk-assessment report and an anticipated defense motion seeking to recuse the District Attorney's Office from the case.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic initially was agreeable to starting the re-sentencing hearing Thursday, but issues arose that prompted him to delay the hearing for the time being. No new dates for a re- sentencing hearing were set, and a second day of the hearing initially set for Friday was canceled.

The Menendez brothers, jailed for life without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents in Beverly Hills, watched via Zoom from the San Diego prison where they are incarcerated, but made no statements.

The Van Nuys courtroom was crowded with Menendez family members, some of whom planned to testify of the brothers' successful rehabilitation during more than 35 years behind bars if the hearing had gone forward.

Instead, much of the morning was taken up with discussion of the admissibility of a recently completed state psychological assessment of the brothers and whether they posed a danger to the community if released. Defense attorney Mark Geragos argued for the assessment to be kept out of the re- sentencing hearing, while prosecutor Habib Balian described the report as an essential piece of the puzzle needed by the judge to make a decision on the matter.

The issue will be discussed at the motions hearing next month, the judge said.

Another issue was the prosecution's use of a graphic crime scene photo displayed at a hearing last Friday.

Geragos complained that use of the photo without warning to Menendez family members caused trauma and resulted in an already ailing elderly aunt of Lyle and Erik Menendez being taken to a hospital.

The judge ordered that if any other graphic photos were to be used, defense attorneys should be forewarned so they can alert Menendez family members.

"It was a very gruesome murder," Jesic said from the bench. "I wouldn't want to see those photos if it was my family."

Balian -- who apologized to the family after showing the photo -- argued that such images were necessary to fully understand "what Lyle and Erik Menendez did."

The hearing came just under a week after Jesic denied a request by the District Attorney's Office to withdraw a motion filed under prior D.A. George Gascón's administration that supported re-sentencing for Erik Menendez, now 54, and Lyle Menendez, now 57.

Prosecutors filed a new motion Wednesday night asking the judge to delay the hearing until the court can review the recent parole board assessment.

New District Attorney Nathan Hochman's office strongly objects to the pair being re-sentenced for the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez.

Attorneys representing the brothers hope to have them re-sentenced to a lesser term, either allowing them to be released or become eligible for parole. The two claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.

"They've waited a long time to get some justice," Geragos said after last Friday's hearing. "Justice won over politics."

He said during last week's hearing that the brothers "have done more good (and) helped more prisoners" than anyone could expect during their over three decades behind bars.

But Hochman, who grew up about a mile from the house where the murders took place, said prosecutors will continue to oppose the brothers' release.

"These murders were calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded killings," Hochman said last week. "Our position remains clear: Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety."

One of the brothers' cousins, Anamaria Baralt, who has been a vocal advocate for the two, said the defendants have shown "remorse and rehabilitation" while imprisoned, and "have repeatedly taken responsibility" for their crimes.

Meanwhile, state parole boards will conduct separate hearings for the brothers on June 13, then send their reports to Gov. Gavin Newsom to help him decide whether the two should receive clemency.

In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers' allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father -- a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager.

Interest in the case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series.

The governor said that with the exception of brief clips on social media he has not watched dramatizations of the Menendez case or documentaries on it "because I don't want to be influenced by them."

"I just want to be influenced by the facts," Newsom said.

Gary and Shannon

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