Lyle and Erik Menendez, who have spent more than three decades in prison for fatally shooting their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, were resentenced on Tuesday, moving one step closer to potential freedom.
After a day-long hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduced their sentences from life in prison without parole to 50 years to life. This makes them eligible for parole under California's youthful offender law because they committed the murders before they were 26.
The brothers were found guilty in 1996 of murdering their parents, Kitty and José Menendez, in 1989 — when Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21. The brothers maintained that the killings were in self-defense, saying they had been sexually abused by their father and feared for their lives.
While there has long been a small but vocal group of supporters defending the Menendez brothers, a Netflix documentary and docudrama brought renewed attention — and sympathy — to the brothers' case last year. Their defense has also claimed there is new evidence bolstering their sexual abuse claims.
In October 2024, then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended the brothers be resentenced, citing the "complexities surrounding sexual violence" and their "continuous rehabilitative efforts during their incarceration." His successor, Nathan Hochman, who was elected a month later, disagrees — but his attempts to block the resentencing process have been unsuccessful.
All of that culminated in Tuesday's hearing, during which the brothers' lawyers argued that they no longer pose a risk to safety and several members of their extended family lobbied for a second chance.
The Menendez brothers, now in their 50s, attended via video from prison and addressed the judge directly — apologizing for killing their parents and for lying in the ensuing court proceedings, according to ABC News.
Erik said there was no justification for his actions, which he called "criminal, selfish and cowardly." But he also said he had "come a long way on this path of redemption," adding, "I will not stop trying to make a difference."
Judge Michael Jesic cited the brothers' rehabilitation work on themselves and others — as well as supportive letters he had received from corrections officers — in his resentencing decision, LAist reports.
"I do believe they've done enough over the last 35 years that one day they should get that chance," Jesic said.
The brothers' fate now rests with state parole officials and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has the power to either veto or grant them clemency. According to the DA's office, the state parole board is already scheduled to hold a hearing on June 13 "as part of a separate bid by the brothers for parole."
In the meantime, here's a look at how the case got here — and what might happen next.
Who are the Menendez brothers?
Lyle and Erik Menendez spent their early years in New Jersey. The family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1986 as their father, José — an immigrant from Cuba and successful RCA record executive — rose through the ranks of the entertainment industry.
They moved into a seven-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills two years later. But the brothers say there was a dark undercurrent to their privileged lifestyle, alleging that their parents subjected them to years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
In August 1989, as José and Kitty Menendez were watching TV in their living room, the brothers walked inside and shot them to death with newly purchased 12-gauge shotguns. The brothers later called 911 and said their parents were killed by intruders.
Authorities initially suspected potential mafia involvement, due to the extreme nature of the crime scene and José's business connections. But they increasingly focused their attention on the brothers, who had embarked on a lavish spending spree in the days and weeks after the killings.
In early March 1990, Beverly Hills Police arrested Lyle in connection to his parents' murders. Erik, who was in Israel for a tennis tournament at the time, turned himself in days later.
What happened in court?
The case captivated much of the country, in part because Court TV broadcast the brothers' 1993 trial live.
Defense lawyers for the brothers argued that they had acted in self-defense, with the brothers saying they feared their parents would kill them to silence stories about the alleged abuse. They alleged that José subjected them to physical and sexual abuse for years while Kitty — described as an unstable alcoholic who also abused them — let it happen.
Prosecutors, however, argued that the brothers were motivated by greed and money — their father's estate was worth nearly $15 million at the time of his death.
In that trial, each brother had his own jury. Both of them deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial.
In their second trial, the judge limited the amount of testimony and evidence presented about the brothers' claims of sexual abuse, a core pillar of the brothers' self-defense strategy.
That trial ended in 1996 with each brother convicted of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
What have the brothers done in prison?
The first 20 years of that prison sentence saw the brothers kept in separate prisons, but they have been housed in the same San Diego correctional facility since 2018.
The brothers' lawyers have described them as model prisoners who have given back to others.
Both brothers got married behind bars: Erik married his pen-pal-turned-wife Tammi in 1999, while Lyle married Rebecca Sneed in 2003. Sneed announced their separation in 2024 but said she remained "forever committed to the enduring fight for Lyle and Erik's freedom."
Lyle earned a sociology degree from the University of California, Irvine through a prison program.
Kim Kardashian — the reality star and criminal justice advocate — wrote in a 2024 essay that both brothers "have earned multiple college degrees, worked as caregivers for elderly incarcerated individuals in hospice, and been mentors in college programs." Those efforts include launching a beautification project in their San Diego prison.
Even as he lobbied against the brothers' release at Tuesday's hearing, calling them untrustworthy, Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian acknowledged that they had "done great things" in prison by starting and participating in rehabilitation programs for others, per LAist.
What new evidence has emerged?
Lawyers for the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in May 2023, asking a judge to consider new evidence of their father's sexual abuse.
That evidence includes a letter Erik wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing sexual abuse by his father. Their lawyers had not known of the letter before the brothers saw it mentioned in a 2015 Barbara Walters television special and asked about it, according to the Associated Press. The LAist reports it was only discovered after Cano's death.
Another piece of evidence comes from Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin boy band Menudo — which was signed under RCA during José Menendez's tenure. He claimed in a 2023 docuseries that José had drugged and raped him in the 1980s, when he was a teenager.
The brothers' case reentered the spotlight the following year, not only because of the emerging evidence but because of new coverage: the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (which Erik has criticized) and The Menendez Brothers documentary both arrived on Netflix in the fall of 2024.
Weeks later, two dozen Menendez relatives gathered in Los Angeles to push for the brothers' resentencing.
Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez's sister, told reporters the brothers "were failed by the very people who should have protected them."
"[In the 1990s] the world was not ready to believe boys could be raped … Today, we know better," she added. "It's time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past."
What happens next?
The brothers are eligible for parole under California's youthful offender law, but are not guaranteed to walk free anytime soon.
The California Board of Parole Hearings is the body responsible for determining whether individuals are suitable for release. According to its handbook, that process typically involves a consultation, then an initial parole hearing.
If the panel denies parole, it must do so for a period of three, five, seven, 10, or 15 years — at which point the individual would get a subsequent parole hearing. Even if the panel does approve parole, that decision can be reviewed and vetoed by the governor, under California law.
The governor's parole review process can take up to 150 days after a parole hearing, according to Newsom's website. Newsom said in February that he had directed the state's parole board to investigate whether the Menendez brothers would pose an "unreasonable" public safety risk if released.
He said the findings would be presented to the district attorney and the judge presiding over the resentencing process — and stressed there is "no guarantee of outcome here."
"My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis but this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case, and more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency," Newsom said.
The Menendez brothers are already scheduled for a board hearing on June 13, related to a separate petition for clemency. It's not clear if that will also serve as their parole hearing.
Copyright 2025 NPR