Judge resentences Erik and Lyle Menendez to 50 years to life
A judge on Tuesday re-sentenced Erik and Lyle Menendez to 50 years to life for the 1989 shotgun killings of their parents in Beverly Hills, making them eligible for parole after serving nearly 35 years.
The decision by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic came after a full-day hearing that included testimony from family members and fellow prison inmates.
The brothers are now eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law because they committed the crime under the age of 26. 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.”
The brothers were originally sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings. While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The brothers did not show any apparent emotion during most of the testimony as they appeared via livestream video, but chuckled when one of their cousins, Diane Hernandez, told the court that Erik Menendez received A+ grades in all of his classes during his most recent semester in college.
The case not only generated significant public interest at the time of the slayings, but has remained in the public spotlight for decades. Interest surged last year with the release of the Netflix drama, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” and the documentary, “The Menendez Brothers.”
Each recent hearing in the case has been not only covered by international media but also attended by many supporters of the brothers' fight for freedom.
The Hearing
The defense began Tuesday's presentation by calling Anamaria 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.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who broke from his predecessor and opposed resentencing, said on Tuesday that the brothers “have not come clean” about their crimes. He has also questioned the validity of their claim that they were sexually abused by their father.
“Our stance isn’t a definitive ‘no’ or ‘never’—it’s ‘not yet,’” Hochman stated. “They have not taken full responsibility for the entirety of their criminal behavior.”
Hochman's office made two attempts to withdraw the resentencing petition, but both efforts were denied by Jesic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.