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After months of delays and decades behind bars, Erik and Lyle Menendez now have a long-awaited chance at freedom after a judge reduced their sentences for the 1989 killings of their parents.
Their family and extensive network of supporters celebrated on Tuesday when Judge Michael Jesic resentenced the brothers from life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. The judge’s decision means they are immediately eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law because of their young ages at the time of the murders.
Soon they will appear before the parole board, which will decide whether or not they should be released. Their freedom is not guaranteed, but this week’s developments bring them closer than they have ever been to leaving prison.
“They are a real family,” Mark Geragos, the brothers’ lead attorney, said after the hearing. “Real people who have lived through unimaginable horrors. And I’m hopeful and glad that we’re one huge step closer to bringing the boys home.”
Their release could at last bring a close to a case that has dominated headlines and captured public attention for nearly four decades. In 1989, Lyle, a 21-year-old student at Princeton, and Erik, an 18-year-old tennis star, attacked their parents with shotguns as they watched television and ate ice-cream in their Beverly Hills home. Jose, a prominent entertainment executive, was shot five times, while Kitty was shot nine times.
The brothers initially said the killings were related to the mafia or their father’s business, but eventually they confessed, and said that they had killed their parents in self-defense. They said they feared their parents were going to kill them to prevent them from speaking out about the long-term sexual abuse they experienced from their father. Prosecutors argued the brothers killed their parents in order to receive their multimillion-dollar inheritance.
They were convicted of the murders in 1996 after two heavily covered trials – their first trial was one of the first to be almost entirely televised on Court TV. But in recent years the prevailing narrative around the brothers and their crimes began to shift – in part due to viral TikToks that focused on their allegations of abuse.
Attention intensified in the last year and a half. First, a letter written by Erik to his late cousin before the killings that corroborated his allegations of abuse surfaced after it was found among family belongings in 2018. Then, a former member of the band Menudo said he, too, was abused by Jose Menendez as a young teen in the 1980s. Erik and Lyle filed filed a habeas corpus petition in 2023, which challenged their convictions as unconstitutional.
But 2024 brought significantly more focus on the case – and movement. It was the subject of a documentary and Netflix series. Erik and Lyle received an outpouring of support from criminal justice reform advocates, including Kim Kardashian. And George Gascón, the progressive former Los Angeles county district attorney, said he believed the brothers’ accounts of abuse and that they had been rehabilitated.
He recommended they be resentenced, opening the door to their release.
The current district attorney, Nathan Hochman, who beat Gascón in the November election, quickly reversed course and sought twice to withdraw the resentencing petition. He argued the brothers had not taken full responsibility for their crimes and his office has said it does not believe they were abused.
But the proceedings eventually moved ahead and after several delays due to the LA wildfires and disputes between the defense and prosecution, Erik and Lyle, now 54 and 57 respectively, were back in court on Tuesday where several family members and supporters spoke on their behalf.
The brothers have the support of their entire family – with the exception of a recently deceased uncle – who have said they forgive the brothers and want them to be freed. Relatives spoke about the abuse the brothers say they faced, their accomplishments in prison and the desire to see them released.
“We all, on both sides of the family, believe that 35 years is enough,” she told the court. “They are universally forgiven by the family.”
Jonathan Colby, a retired judge, told the court that he considered himself tough on crime but he had got to know the brothers and was impressed with the programs they started in prison to provide aid and care for older and disabled prisoners.
“There’s not many prisoners I meet like Erik and Lyle that have such concern for the elderly,” he said.
Anerae Brown, who was once incarcerated with the brothers, cried as he testified about how they helped him heal and get on the path to rehabilitation, leading to his release from prison, and called the programs they started “Menendez University”.
Erik and Lyle attended the proceedings virtually and read statements to the court, acknowledging the impact of the crimes. “You did not deserve what I did to you, but you inspire me to do better,” Erik Menendez said, addressing his family.
Jesic issued his decision immediately after the brothers spoke, and granted them a new sentence of 50 years to life. Because they were under 26 at the time of the murders, they are immediately eligible for parole.
Hochman, the LA district attorney, said his office’s opposition to their resentencing “ensured that the court was presented with all the facts before making such a consequential decision”.
“The decision to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez was a monumental one that has significant implications for the families involved, the community, and the principles of justice,” the district attorney added.
“Our office’s motions to withdraw the resentencing motion filed by the previous administration ensured that the court was presented with all the facts before making such a consequential decision.”
The brothers are expected to appear before the parole board on 13 June for a clemency petition they submitted to the governor – though it is not yet clear if that will serve as their parole hearing or if additional proceedings will be scheduled. If parole is granted, and California’s governor allows the decision to stand, they will be released.
Legal analysts anticipated they will be granted parole.
“The brothers are very likely to be released within a matter of months. The parole board is going to be overwhelmed with voices in support of the brothers,” said Neama Rahmani, a former assistant US attorney and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.
“Every living family member of Jose and Kitty Menendez supported their release, which is almost unheard of in a murder case like this one.”
The Associated Press contributed
