LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County judge was supposed to begin hearing evidence Thursday in a critical hearing that could have put Erik and Lyle Menendez on a path to freedom for the first time in more than 35 years. But a fight over the creation of a parole document ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom has stalled proceedings.

The Menendez brothers’ long awaited resentencing hearing, a process that could make them eligible for parole, was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Van Nuys courthouse.

But late Wednesday, L.A. County prosecutors filed a motion seeking a delay because they did not have adequate time to review a “comprehensive risk assessment” document compiled by the state parole board.

Newsom earlier this year asked the board to conduct the review as he considered granting the brothers clemency in the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The brothers were convicted of murder with special circumstances and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a 1995 trial.

The resentencing hearing became a possibility last year after then-L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón asked a judge to make the brothers eligible for parole under California law, reducing their sentences because the killings occurred when they were under the age of 26.

In a three-page memo, prosecutors working for Gascón cited the brothers’ work creating rehabilitation programs in prison, their low-risk assessments by prison officials and potential new evidence about their father’s alleged abusive behavior as reasons they should be set free.

Current Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman strongly opposes their release and has focused his arguments on what he sees as the brothers’ refusal to take ownership of the grisly crime.

Hochman said Thursday that his office only received the parole board report on Tuesday, but would not comment on its contents. He said he waned to ensure L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic had all the material he needed to make an accurate ruling.

Newsom’s office said Thursday that the report is incomplete and would not be finalized until June.

“Our office notified Judge Jesic of the status of this report, which is not a stand-alone risk assessment, and offered to share it with the court should he request it,” Newsom’s office said, describing the document as essentially a first draft.

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse Thursday morning, the Menendez brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, dismissed Hochman’s motion as a Hail Mary attempt.

“If I was desperate and afraid of the truth, I’d do the same thing,” Geragos said.

Hochman held a news conference outside the courthouse Thursday morning, just minutes before Jesic took the bench. Inside the courtroom, Geragos displayed video of Hochman’s remarks and contended the D.A. implied there was something negative in the parole report, which Geragos said he had not seen.

Jesic told Geragos he’d spoken with the governor’s office and a copy of the report was available for the defense. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to an email from The Times seeking further comment.

“I need clarification from the governor’s office [on] what they are doing here,” the judge said. “This is stupid.”

Geragos also questioned if the report was even admissible, since it was generated for the purposes of a parole hearing. In a resentencing hearing, Jesic would only decide if the brothers are eligible for parole, not if they would actually be granted release.

L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Habib Balian, who has reviewed the the report, urged Jesic to look at the document before ruling in the resentencing case. Jesic made clear he will not be deciding the brothers’ fate in the next two days, suggesting he intends to issue a written ruling in the future rather than rule from the bench when both sides finish preventing evidence Friday or Monday.

If Jesic admits the report, Geragos said he would seek a continuance and consider filing a motion to boot the Los Angeles County D.A.’s office from the case. Geragos did not state any grounds to recuse the L.A. County prosecutors, though he has repeatedly accused Hochman of mistreating and abusing the family members who want the brothers freed.

“The reports have nothing to do with resentencing,” Geragos said, displaying one message on a television screen in the courtroom. “The emails say you cannot use it for hearings.”

On Aug. 20, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez entered the family’s Beverly Hills home armed with shotguns they had bought with cash and opened fire while their parents were watching a movie. Jose Menendez was shot five times in the kneecaps and head. Kitty Menendez was crawling away, covered in blood, when one of the brothers hit her with a final, fatal shotgun blast.

Erik, then 18, confessed to the killings in a conversation with his therapist. While the brothers claimed Jose sexually abused them and was a threat to their lives, prosecutors contended they killed their parents to get early access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance.

A push to free the brothers gained steam last year after the release of a popular Netflix documentary about the case, which included the unearthing of additional documentation of Jose’s alleged sexual abuse. In a motion for a new trial, defense attorneys pointed to a letter Erik sent to one of his cousins detailing his father’s behavior, which was delivered eight months before the murders. The motion also contained a declaration from a member of the boy band Menudo who alleged Jose raped him when he was a teenager in 1984.

Nearly two dozen of the brothers’ loved ones have formed the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a family-led group advocating for their freedom. The lone Menendez family member who opposed the brothers’ release died this year.

If the hearing proceeds, Geragos is expected to call several relatives as witnesses, as well as a former inmate who was mentored by the brothers. A correctional supervisor who thinks so highly of one of the brothers that he wouldn’t mind if they were neighbors is also supposed to take the stand, Geragos said in open court last week.

It is unclear if the brothers will testify. Hochman said Thursday he was unsure if the district attorney’s office will call any witnesses.

Hochman said that his office’s position on the brothers eligibility for resentencing is better described as “not yet,” rather than “no.”

“We have identified a pathway for the Menendez brothers to come forward, acknowledge all the lies they have told over the past 30 years... They can then say to the court, ‘We have come clean, we have been rehabilitated, we no longer constitute a danger to society,’” he said.

Hochman has repeatedly insisted the brothers lied about the circumstances of the shooting. Hochman has also said the brothers have not shown proper “insight” into their crimes.

At a hearing last week seeking to revoke Gascón’s petition, Jesic agreed with a defense argument that “insight” was not relevant to a resentencing petition. That standard applies only in a parole hearing, the judge said.

Hochman said Thursday he disagreed with part of that interpretation, arguing that parole and resentencing standards overlap. By continuing to “minimize their crimes,” Hochman said, the brothers have demonstrated they have not undergone rehabilitation, as it is defined by the state Supreme Court.

If the brothers are ultimately resentenced, they could be on track for a parole hearing this year.

If Jesic rejects the petition, the brothers still have two routes to release: a motion for a new trial citing the additional sex abuse evidence and the clemency petition before Newsom.

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