Menendez brothers’ prison sentence reduced to 50 years, potentially allowing for parole

Erik and Lyle Menendez are eligible for parole 35 years after they were imprisoned for murdering both of their parents.

In front of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the brothers had their sentences reduced by Judge Michael Jesic on Tuesday. They were originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but now they will serve 50 years to life.

This change means they’re now eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law because they committed the crime under the age of 26. 

Back in 1996, the brothers were convicted of murdering their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, at their home in Beverly Hills. This resulted in them being sentenced to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings.

The defense lawyers claimed that the brothers were driven to commit the murders due to years of sexual abuse inflicted by their father. On the other hand, the prosecution argued that the brothers had a different motive – they killed their parents in order to inherit millions of dollars.

The state parole board must still decide whether to release them from prison. 

‘I’m not saying they should be released, it’s not for me to decide,’ Jesic said. ‘I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.’ 

Erik and Lyle Menendez are eligible for parole 35 years after they were imprisoned for murdering both of their parents. They are pictured here in December 1992

The duo have received educations behind bars and been model inmates 

Relatives of the Menendez brothers arrived in court to offer their support in the resentencing 

The brothers are broadly supported by their relatives, many of whom testified on their behalf on Tuesday. One said the duo had been ‘universally forgiven by the family’ for their actions.

‘Today, 35 years later, I am deeply ashamed of who I was,’ Lyle told the court. ‘I killed my mom and dad. I make no excuses and also no justification. The impact of my violent actions on my family… is unfathomable.’

The defense began by calling Ana Maria Baralt, a cousin of Erik and Lyle, who testified that the brothers have repeatedly expressed remorse for their actions.

‘We all, on both sides of the family, believe that 35 years is enough,’ Baralt said. ‘They are universally forgiven by our family.’

Another cousin, Tamara Goodell, said she had recently taken her 13-year-old son to meet the brothers in prison, and that they would contribute a lot of good to the world if released.

Hernandez, who also testified during Erik and Lyle’s first trial, spoke about the abuse she witnessed in the Menendez household when she lived with them and the so-called ‘hallway rule.’

‘When Jose was with one of the boys … you couldn’t even go up the stairs to be on the same floor,’ Hernandez said of the father.

The previous LA County District Attorney George Gascón had opened the door to possible freedom for the brothers last fall by asking a judge to reduce their sentences. 

The brothers appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, where Judge Michael Jesic reduced their sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life 

Jose and Kitty (pictured) were killed in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989 

DA Hochman has argued that ‘the prior DA’s motion did not examine or consider whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and taken complete responsibility for their crimes by continuing over 30 years to lie about their claims of self-defense

His office said the case would’ve been handled differently today due to modern understandings of sexual abuse and trauma, and the brothers’ rehabilitation over three decades in prison.

A resentencing petition laid out by Gascón focuses on the brothers’ accomplishments and rehabilitation.

Since their conviction, the brothers have gotten an education, participated in self-help classes and started various support groups for their fellow inmates.

But current district attorney Nathan Hochman said Tuesday that he believes the brothers are not ready for resentencing because ‘they have not come clean’ about their crimes. 

His office also has said it does not believe they were sexually abused.

‘Our position is not ‘no,’ it’s not ‘never,’ it’s ‘not yet,’ Hochman said. ‘They have not fully accepted responsibility for all their criminal conduct.’

On August 20, 1989, armed with two shotguns, the brothers blasted both parents to death as they watched a movie at their Beverly Hills mansion.

Their trial prompted worldwide headlines. Prosecutors said their motive was greed, as they stood to inherit $14 million from their parents.

A chilling crime scene photo shows the blood-soaked couch where Jose Menendez was shot

The brothers insisted they acted against a father who sexually abused them for years and a mother who turned a blind eye to the abuse.

The first trial ended with a hung jury. But at a second trial in 1996 – where the judge refused to allow any evidence about the brothers being molested by their father – they were convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

New interest in the case was sparked by the recent Netflix drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the true crime documentary The Menendez Brothers which tell how the brothers claimed to police that they returned home from the theater to find their parents had been slaughtered.

At first it was feared that a vicious killer was on the loose in Beverly Hills, one of America’s wealthiest communities.

But cops switched their suspicions to Lyle and Erik after they set about spending their $14 million inheritance soon after their parents’ deaths.

Lyle bought a Porsche Carrera, Rolex watch and two restaurants, while his brother hired a full-time tennis coach to begin competing in tournaments.

In all, they spent $700,000 between the time of their parents’ deaths and their arrests in March 1990, seven months after the murders.

Erik – who said his father abused him from the age of six to 12 – insisted in the new documentary that it’s ‘absurd’ to suggest he was having a good time in the immediate aftermath of the murders.

‘Everything was to cover up this horrible pain of not wanting to be alive,’ he said.

‘One of the things that stopped me from killing myself was that I would be a complete failure to my dad.’