BREAKING: Menendez Brothers Eligible for Parole After Judge Reduces Life Sentences in Infamous Murder Case
A Los Angeles judge has reduced the sentence of Erik and Lyle Menendez, making them eligible for parole more than 30 years after they killed their parents in a Beverly Hills mansion.
Judge Michael Jesic resentenced the brothers on Tuesday, after hearing evidence from relatives and prison staff about their attempts to make amends while behind bars.
The district attorney had argued that they were not rehabilitated, but now the state parole board will consider the possibility of the brothers’ release as early as next month.
The brothers have long argued that they killed Kitty and Jose Menendez out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse, in a high-profile case that prompted a Netflix show which renewed interest in the story.
After hearing that they had been resentenced to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole, the brothers delivered an emotional statement to the court.
They went through grim details of the brutal killings and their decision to reload their shotguns and keep shooting their parents at point-blank range in the living room of their home. The siblings were aged 18 and 21 at the time.
“I had to stop being selfish and immature to really understand what my parents went through in those last moments,” Erik Menendez, 54, told the court.
He described the “shock, confusion and betrayal” they must have felt seeing their sons holding guns and opening fire.
Both apologised for their actions and talked about their hopes of working with sex abuse victims and helping those incarcerated if they were given a second chance outside prison.
The voice of Lyle Menendez, 57, cracked as he talked about the impact of his “unfathomable” actions on their relatives.
“I lied to you and forced you into a spotlight of public humiliation,” he said to his family.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the decision to resentence the pair was “monumental” and carried “significant implications for the families involved.”
The state’s parole board is set to conduct a separate hearing on 13 June for the brothers.
It’s unclear what could come at the hearing, or if there might be multiple hearings vetting their potential release.