The Menendez brothers have been resentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Previously, they were sentenced to life in prison without parole. This means they could soon be released.
The two brothers were first sentenced in 1996 for the murder of their parents in 1989.
A hearing scheduled for June will determine if they will be released on parole.
The case
Lyle and Erik Menendez lived with their parents in Beverly Hills, California.
On 20 August 1989, police received a call from Lyle, who said he and his brother had found their parents dead in the living room.
The brothers told police they had been at a movie theatre before they came home and discovered their parents.
At the time, Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21. They were arrested in March 1990 and faced trial in 1993.
Initially, the pair suggested the mafia might be behind the murder of their parents, Jose Menendez and Mary Louise Anderson (also called ‘Kitty’) .
Authorities became suspicious of the brothers when they began spending large amounts of money following the death of their parents.
They were arrested in March 1990 and faced trial in 1993.
1993
The brothers eventually confessed to firing multiple shots at close range, in what they argued was self-defence.
Both Lyle and Erik testified in court that they had endured years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse from their father.
They claimed their mother knew about the abuse, but ignored it.
Verdict
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Each brother was assigned a separate jury, but neither could reach a consensus. The hung juries resulted in a mistrial.
Both were found guilty of murder in 1996 following a re-trial, and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Renewed efforts
The case gained renewed interest following the release of the series ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ on Netflix in 2024.
Following the series, the LA County District Attorney’s Office said it would review possible new evidence in the case, which Erik’s lawyers say corroborates allegations of sexual abuse by his father.
In October 2024, then-District Attorney George Gascón recommended reducing their sentences.
Gascón then lost his bid for re-election, and was succeeded by Hochman, who has since argued the brothers “are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”
Despite Hochman’s opposition, a judge decided last month that the re-sentencing hearings for the brothers could go ahead.
New Sentence
On Tuesday, the LA County Superior Court ruled in favour of the brothers’ bid to reduce their sentences.
The resentencing makes them eligible for parole under California’s youth offender laws.
Under these laws, a parole board is required to give special consideration to offenders who were under the age of 26 at the time of the crime. This came into effect in 2018.
Parole allows a person to be released under specific conditions, such as restrictions on where they can live.
Presiding Judge Michael Jesic said: “[It’s] not for me to decide... I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.” Their release will be decided by the state’s parole board.
A parole hearing had already been scheduled for June 13 under a separate clemency case brought by the state’s Governor.
Lawyers for the brothers are also seeking to have their murder convictions downgraded from
murder to manslaughter, to allow their immediate release.
