Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez go away the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., in August 1990. They have been sentenced to life in jail with out the opportunity of parole in 1996 — and resentenced this week.
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Nick Ut/AP
Lyle and Erik Menendez, who’ve spent greater than three a long time in jail for fatally capturing their mother and father of their Beverly Hills mansion, have been resentenced on Tuesday, shifting one step nearer to potential freedom.
After a day-long listening to, Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Decide Michael Jesic lowered their sentences from life in jail with out parole to 50 years to life. This makes them eligible for parole underneath California’s youthful offender regulation as a result of they dedicated the murders earlier than they have been 26.
The brothers have been discovered responsible in 1996 of murdering their mother and father, Kitty and José Menendez, in 1989 — when Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21. The brothers maintained that the killings have been in self-defense, saying that they had been sexually abused by their father and feared for his or her lives.
Whereas there has lengthy been a small however vocal group of supporters defending the Menendez brothers, a Netflix documentary and docudrama introduced renewed consideration — and sympathy — to the brothers’ case final 12 months. Their protection has additionally claimed there may be new proof bolstering their sexual abuse claims.
In October 2024, then-Los Angeles County District Lawyer George Gascón advisable the brothers be resentenced, citing the “complexities surrounding sexual violence” and their “steady rehabilitative efforts throughout their incarceration.” His successor, Nathan Hochman, who was elected a month later, disagrees — however his makes an attempt to dam the resentencing course of have been unsuccessful.
All of that culminated in Tuesday’s listening to, throughout which the brothers’ attorneys argued that they not pose a threat to security and several other members of their prolonged household lobbied for a second probability.
The Menendez brothers, now of their 50s, attended by way of video from jail and addressed the choose immediately — apologizing for killing their mother and father and for mendacity within the ensuing courtroom proceedings, in accordance with ABC Information.
Erik mentioned there was no justification for his actions, which he referred to as “prison, egocentric and cowardly.” However he additionally mentioned he had “come a good distance on this path of redemption,” including, “I can’t cease making an attempt to make a distinction.”
Decide Michael Jesic cited the brothers’ rehabilitation work on themselves and others — in addition to supportive letters he had obtained from corrections officers — in his resentencing choice, LAist studies.
“I do imagine they’ve performed sufficient during the last 35 years that in the future they need to get that probability,” Jesic mentioned.
The brothers’ destiny now rests with state parole officers and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has the facility to both veto or grant them clemency. In keeping with the DA’s workplace, the state parole board is already scheduled to carry a listening to on June 13 “as a part of a separate bid by the brothers for parole.”
Within the meantime, here is a take a look at how the case received right here — and what would possibly occur subsequent.
Who’re the Menendez brothers?
Lyle and Erik Menendez spent their early years in New Jersey. The household moved to the Los Angeles space in 1986 as their father, José — an immigrant from Cuba and profitable RCA document govt — rose via the ranks of the leisure business.
They moved right into a seven-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills two years later. However the brothers say there was a darkish undercurrent to their privileged way of life, alleging that their mother and father subjected them to years of emotional, bodily and sexual abuse.
In August 1989, as José and Kitty Menendez have been watching TV of their front room, the brothers walked inside and shot them to demise with newly bought 12-gauge shotguns. The brothers later referred to as 911 and mentioned their mother and father have been killed by intruders.
Authorities initially suspected potential mafia involvement, as a result of excessive nature of the crime scene and José’s enterprise connections. However they more and more targeted their consideration on the brothers, who had launched into a lavish spending spree within the days and weeks after the killings.
In early March 1990, Beverly Hills Police arrested Lyle in connection to his mother and father’ murders. Erik, who was in Israel for a tennis event on the time, turned himself in days later.
Erik Menendez, left, and his brother, Lyle, sit in a Beverly Hills courtroom in 1992.
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Nick Ut/AP
What occurred in courtroom?
The case captivated a lot of the nation, partly as a result of Courtroom TV broadcast the brothers’ 1993 trial dwell.
Protection attorneys for the brothers argued that that they had acted in self-defense, with the brothers saying they feared their mother and father would kill them to silence tales in regards to the alleged abuse. They alleged that José subjected them to bodily and sexual abuse for years whereas Kitty — described as an unstable alcoholic who additionally abused them — let it occur.
Prosecutors, nevertheless, argued that the brothers have been motivated by greed and cash — their father’s property was price almost $15 million on the time of his demise.
In that trial, every brother had his personal jury. Each of them deadlocked, leading to a mistrial.
Of their second trial, the choose restricted the quantity of testimony and proof offered in regards to the brothers’ claims of sexual abuse, a core pillar of the brothers’ self-defense technique.
That trial led to 1996 with every brother convicted of first-degree homicide. They have been sentenced to 2 consecutive life jail phrases with out the opportunity of parole.
What have the brothers performed in jail?
The primary 20 years of that jail sentence noticed the brothers stored in separate prisons, however they’ve been housed in the identical San Diego correctional facility since 2018.
The brothers’ attorneys have described them as mannequin prisoners who’ve given again to others.
Each brothers received married behind bars: Erik married his pen-pal-turned-wife Tammi in 1999, whereas Lyle married Rebecca Sneed in 2003. Sneed introduced their separation in 2024 however mentioned she remained “ceaselessly dedicated to the enduring battle for Lyle and Erik’s freedom.”
Lyle earned a sociology diploma from the College of California, Irvine via a jail program.
Kim Kardashian — the truth star and prison justice advocate — wrote in a 2024 essay that each brothers “have earned a number of school levels, labored as caregivers for aged incarcerated people in hospice, and been mentors in school packages.” These efforts embody launching a beautification undertaking of their San Diego jail.
At the same time as he lobbied in opposition to the brothers’ launch at Tuesday’s listening to, calling them untrustworthy, Deputy District Lawyer Habib Balian acknowledged that that they had “performed nice issues” in jail by beginning and collaborating in rehabilitation packages for others, per LAist.
A mixture of two reserving photographs supplied by the California Division of Corrections exhibits Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez.
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California Dept. of Corrections/AP
What new proof has emerged?
Legal professionals for the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in Might 2023, asking a choose to contemplate new proof of their father’s sexual abuse.
That proof features a letter Erik wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing sexual abuse by his father. Their attorneys had not recognized of the letter earlier than the brothers noticed it talked about in a 2015 Barbara Walters tv particular and requested about it, in accordance with the Related Press. The LAist studies it was solely found after Cano’s demise.
One other piece of proof comes from Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin boy band Menudo — which was signed underneath RCA throughout José Menendez’s tenure. He claimed in a 2023 docuseries that José had drugged and raped him within the Eighties, when he was a young person.
The brothers’ case reentered the highlight the next 12 months, not solely due to the rising proof however due to new protection: the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (which Erik has criticized) and The Menendez Brothers documentary each arrived on Netflix within the fall of 2024.
Weeks later, two dozen Menendez relations gathered in Los Angeles to push for the brothers’ resentencing.
Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, instructed reporters the brothers “have been failed by the very individuals who ought to have protected them.”
“[In the 1990s] the world was not able to imagine boys could possibly be raped … As we speak, we all know higher,” she added. “It is time to give them the chance to dwell the remainder of their lives free from the shadow of their previous.”
What occurs subsequent?
The brothers are eligible for parole underneath California’s youthful offender regulation, however should not assured to stroll free anytime quickly.
The California Board of Parole Hearings is the physique answerable for figuring out whether or not people are appropriate for launch. In keeping with its handbook, that course of sometimes includes a session, then an preliminary parole listening to.
If the panel denies parole, it should accomplish that for a interval of three, 5, seven, 10, or 15 years — at which level the person would get a subsequent parole listening to. Even when the panel does approve parole, that call could be reviewed and vetoed by the governor, underneath California regulation.
The governor’s parole evaluation course of can take as much as 150 days after a parole listening to, in accordance with Newsom’s web site. Newsom mentioned in February that he had directed the state’s parole board to research whether or not the Menendez brothers would pose an “unreasonable” public security threat if launched.
He mentioned the findings could be offered to the district lawyer and the choose presiding over the resentencing course of — and burdened there may be “no assure of final result right here.”
“My workplace conducts dozens and dozens of those clemency evaluations on a constant foundation however this course of merely supplies extra transparency, which I believe is vital on this case, and extra due diligence earlier than I make any willpower for clemency,” Newsom mentioned.
The Menendez brothers are already scheduled for a board listening to on June 13, associated to a separate petition for clemency. It isn’t clear if that can even function their parole listening to.
