On Tuesday, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez were resentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The brothers have spent 35 years in prison after they were arrested for killing their parents with a shotgun in 1989.
So what happened to the brothers, and could they be freed?
What happened to Erik and Lyle Menendez?
On August 20, 1989, Lyle, then 21 and Erik, then 18, fired multiple shotgun rounds at their parents, Jose Menendez and Mary “Kitty” Louise, in their Beverly Hills mansion, killing them. The brothers were arrested in 1990.
The brothers’ lawyers said that they were driven to murder because Jose had sexually abused them for years, and Kitty had enabled this behaviour while emotionally abusing them. Prosecutors, however, had argued that the intent behind the murders was malicious and that the brothers wanted to inherit their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune. Jose worked as a music and film executive and was also the head of the successful record label RCA, which had signed artists such as Duran Duran.
A 1994 trial resulted in a hung jury. In 1996, the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
The case became fodder for American popular culture references, including in comedy dramas like Gilmore Girls and 30 Rock. A new generation of Americans were introduced to the case last year with the release of the nine-part Netflix biopic called Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which tried to depict the murders and the circumstances leading up to them from both the parents’ and the brothers’ perspectives. A separate documentary on the case was also released a month after the Netflix show.
Public calls for their release from the general public, their family members, alongside celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell, grew louder, and a TikTok movement sprang up after the release of the show and documentary.
Currently, the brothers are being held at the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
Why did the Menendez brothers get resentenced?
The brothers were resentenced under California’s youthful offender statute. This applies to those who have committed a crime under the age of 26 and it immediately makes them eligible for parole once they serve half of their term.
The resentencing was one of three possible paths to freedom sought by the brothers. The other two included clemency granted by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had ordered a parole board to assess whether the brothers would pose a danger to society; and a new trial, an option opposed by the office of Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. The brothers’ lawyers filed a motion in May 2023, detailing new evidence and seeking a new trial.
Judge Michael Jesic of Los Angeles Superior Court resentenced the Menendez brothers. This decision came after a daylong hearing where their family members testified before the court in favour of the brothers’ release.
While Jesic said that their crime was “horrific,” he said it was “amazing” how the brothers had rehabilitated themselves in prison. “It’s something I’ve never seen before,” Jesic said.
Anamaria Baralt, 54, the brothers’ first cousin, told the court on Tuesday that the brothers were “universally forgiven” by both sides of the family. “They are different men from the boys that they were when they committed these crimes,” Baralt said.
Other family members said the brothers should receive credit for their rehabilitation while in prison. They cited Green Space, Lyle’s 2018 prison beautification project, alongside the role Erik played in providing hospice care to fellow inmates.
Now 57 and 54 years old, Lyle and Erik addressed the court on Tuesday through videolink from the prison in San Diego and took responsibility for their actions. “My crime was not just criminal. It was wrong. It was immoral. It was cruel and it was vicious,” Erik said. “Today, 35 years later, I am deeply ashamed of who I was,” said Lyle.
However, prosecutor Habib Balian said he was not convinced by the family members’ testimonies and argued that the court could not be confident that the brothers would not commit another violent crime. “We know … what they are capable of doing,” he said.
Has new evidence emerged in the Menendez case?
In recent years, new evidence has emerged that defence lawyers argue substantiates claims of the brothers enduring sexual abuse at the hands of Jose.
This includes a letter Erik wrote to his cousin, detailing his father’s sexual abuse when he was 17 years old.
Additionally, Roy Rossello, who was a boy band member in the 1980s, publicly revealed that Jose sexually assaulted him in a 2023 documentary series on Peacock. Rossello’s band was called Menudo and the documentary series is called Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.
The emergence of new evidence was a trigger for the brothers to explore new avenues to secure their release.
Could they be freed?
While the brothers were initially sentenced, back in 1996, without the possibility of parole, their new sentence allows for parole. This means that they can be released before their sentence is over.
Before they can be freed, they have to make a case for why they should be released before the state parole board. The brothers will remain imprisoned until then, and it is now up to the state parole board and California Governor Newsom to decide their fate.
Lyle and Erik will appear on June 13 before the parole board for the risk assessment report that Newsom ordered to help his clemency decision. If the board does approve their release, Newsom needs to sign off on that.
