Over 35 years ago, Lyle and Erik Menendez — then 21 and 18 years old — walked into the den of their Beverly Hills mansion and fired more than a dozen shotgun rounds at their parents, killing them both.
In recent years, the brothers have been thrust back into the media spotlight thanks to the revelation of new evidence, an army of social media defenders and a recent television series and documentary examining the crime and their trials.
Now, after serving decades of a life sentence without the possibility of parole, there are three legal pathways that could allow the brothers to regain their freedom, including a possible resentencing and a clemency petition made to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.
The new Los Angeles County district attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, who was elected on promises to take a tougher approach on crime, has said he opposes releasing the brothers. But last week, a judge rejected his request to withdraw a resentencing petition put forward by his predecessor and said a resentencing hearing would move forward on Thursday and Friday.
But late Wednesday, Mr. Hochman’s office filed a motion asking the judge to consider delaying the hearings again. It was unclear how the judge would rule on that motion.
If the hearings continue as planned, the defense team is expected to call witnesses to testify about how the brothers have lived their lives in prison, in an attempt to build a case that they have been rehabilitated and no longer pose a risk to public safety. The brothers themselves may make statements.
Judge Michael V. Jesic of Los Angeles Superior Court will then decide whether to impose a new sentence, and he has several options.
He could reduce the brothers’ sentence to life with the possibility of parole, making them eligible to go before a parole board. He could, as the brothers’ legal team is requesting, reduce the murder conviction to manslaughter and allow them to be released immediately. Or he could reject a new sentence altogether.
Here’s what to know about the case:
There are three active legal paths that could allow the brothers to regain their freedom.
The first, a resentencing track, was initiated by the former Los Angeles County district attorney, George Gascón, last fall. Separately, the court itself initiated its own resentencing petition.
The second path is a clemency petition on the desk of Mr. Newsom, who has indicated he is supportive of re-examining the case. The governor ordered the state’s parole board to assess whether the brothers would pose a threat to public safety if released. The board’s report, which prosecutors said became available this week, are the documents at issue in Mr. Hochman’s request to delay Thursday’s proceedings.
The parole board hearings are scheduled for June 13.
The third path is a habeas corpus petition filed by the brothers’ lawyers, who claimed that newly unearthed evidence of sexual abuse by Jose Menendez, the father of Lyle and Erik, would have altered the outcome of their trial if it had been available at the time. This is considered the least likely path, and Mr. Hochman, the district attorney, announced in February that he was opposed to a new trial.
The new district attorney has said he will not support resentencing.
Often, resentencing hearings are not adversarial proceedings because the district attorney’s office has already voiced its support.
In this case, the prosecutors will be arguing against resentencing the brothers, even though the office, under the previous district attorney, had initiated the process.
In October, Mr. Gascón, then the Los Angeles County district attorney, asked a judge to resentence the Menendez brothers in a way that would make them eligible for parole.
While acknowledging that the brothers had committed “horrible acts,” Mr. Gascón said he believed they had engaged in “a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation” while incarcerated. A lawyer for the Menendez brothers recently said their rehabilitation had been “exemplary” and highlighted that they had created programs, counseled and mentored others and pursued higher education behind bars.
On April 9, the new district attorney, Mr. Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, said that prosecutors were prepared to proceed with the court-initiated hearings on resentencing, but his office was asking that Mr. Gascón’s motion be withdrawn. That was rejected by Judge Jesic.
The brothers had also petitioned the governor to grant them clemency, a bid that Mr. Gascón supported. Mr. Hochman, in his public statements, has stressed that the governor could grant clemency at any time, regardless of what happens with resentencing.
As the brothers make their case to be released, a portrait of their time in prison has emerged of siblings who came to be regarded as model inmates.
But Mr. Hochman and his team have argued repeatedly that the brothers have not demonstrated they have “full insight” into their crimes because they have never renounced their claim that they killed their parents because they feared their parents would kill them first, which prosecutors maintain was a lie.
At the hearing last week, prosecutors, without warning, showed a graphic crime-scene photo while the family was in the courtroom. The family subsequently filed a complaint against Mr. Hochman, saying the move had violated a victims’ rights law and had traumatized members of the family. Terry Baralt, the 85-year-old sister of the brothers’ father, was hospitalized as a result, the family said.
What were they convicted of?
In 1996, the Menendez brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing their parents, Jose, a music executive, and Mary Louise, a former beauty queen who went by the name Kitty.
It was their second trial. Two years prior, a mistrial was declared after two separate juries (one for each brother) deadlocked over a verdict.
The trials proceeded quite differently.
In the first trial, defense lawyers claimed that the brothers had killed their parents after years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse by their father and that they feared for their lives. Their mother, they said, knew about the abuse but didn’t stop it.
Interviews with jurors after the mistrial revealed that some of them questioned how serious the abuse had been and to what extent it justified their actions.
In the second trial, which led to their convictions and in which the brothers were tried in front of a single jury, lawyers for the brothers were limited in what evidence and testimony could be presented.
The judge, Stanley M. Weisberg, prohibited their lawyers from using the “abuse excuse,” essentially leaving only two options for jurors: an acquittal or a murder conviction. They went with the latter.
New evidence has emerged in recent years.
In the past several years, new evidence has come to light.
Last year, Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, publicly revealed in the Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” that Jose Menendez had sexually assaulted him at the Menendez family home in New Jersey when he was 14.
The journalist Robert Rand, who had written extensively about the brothers in his book “The Menendez Murders,” also brought forward a letter that Erik wrote when he was 17 to his cousin, detailing his father’s sexual abuse.
In the news conference on Oct. 24, Mr. Gascón said that he believed the brothers’ molestation claims.
Where does the family stand?
In October, several members of the Menendez family were at the news conference when Mr. Gascón announced his decision to recommend a resentencing.
“Today is a day filled with hope for our family,” said Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers who supports their release.
Earlier this year, two dozen family members called for their resentencing in a letter submitted to the court, arguing that “time has provided perspective” and that “continued incarceration serves no rehabilitative purpose.” They have held several news conferences and other events to rally support for the brothers in the time since.
But not everyone in their family agreed. Milton Andersen, one of Kitty Menendez’s brothers, retained a lawyer to oppose the brothers’ release. In 2023, he told The New York Times that Lyle and Erik “do not deserve to walk on the face of this earth after killing my sister and my brother-in-law.”
Mr. Andersen died in March.
Two Netflix projects bring renewed attention to the case.
The Menendez brothers were the subject of two high-profile releases on Netflix.
The first, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” an anthology series created by Ryan Murphy, premiered in September.
Weeks later, Netflix premiered “The Menendez Brothers,” a documentary by Alejandro Hartmann featuring exclusive interviews with Lyle and Erik Menendez.
Mr. Gascón previously said that the documentary had “brought a tremendous amount of public attention” and requests for information to his office.
Over the past several years, the Menendez brothers have also been backed by a legion of fans on social media who have examined the case in hindsight and expressed sympathy amid the brothers’ claims of sexual assault.
Livia Albeck-Ripka and Hank Sanders contributed reporting.
Kate Christobek is a reporter covering breaking news for The Times.
Christine Hauser writes breaking news stories, features and explainers.
Tim Arango is a correspondent covering national news. He is based in Los Angeles.
Matt Stevens writes about arts and culture news for The Times.
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