Menendez brothers eligible for parole after serving more than 30 years behind bars for shotgun slayings of parents, judge rules
Erik and Lyle Menendez will be eligible to leave prison after serving more than 30 years behind bars for the vicious 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents, a Los Angeles judge ruled Tuesday.
The judge reduced the sentences for the killer siblings — who are now 54 and 57, respectively — from life without parole to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole.
It will now be up to the California parole board and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to decide if the brothers deserve freedom after they gunned down their wealthy parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their lavish Beverly Hills home on Aug. 20, 1989.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, both brothers gave emotional accounts of the murders, which they claimed came after years of sexual abuse by Jose with Kitty’s help.
“My choices that night robbed my parents of their full lives,” said Erik, who was only 18 when he shot his parents. “I can only imagine the fear, the pain, and the trauma it caused [my family].”
His older brother echoed the sentiment.
“I committed an atrocious act against two people who had the right to live, my mom and dad,” Lyle said, appearing to fight tears.
“I take full responsibility for my choices … I was a 21-year-old who believed I could fix what could not be fixed.”
Lawyers cross-examined several witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing, including family members and one former inmate, who all insisted Lyle and Erik had learned the error of their ways and had redeemed themselves in prison.
The brothers’ cousin, Anamaria Baralt, told the court that the pair have been “universally forgiven by everybody in our family,” insisting they had been fully rehabilitated.
“I would welcome them into my home with my family,” she said.
Baralt added that should the brothers be granted parole, they plan to work as advocates for victims of sexual abuse.
Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian argued that the brothers showed no “insight” by sticking to an “absurd” claim that they killed their parents in self-defense after years of sexual abuse.
But their lawyer, Mark Geragos, insisted the brothers have undergone full transformations.
Geragos highlighted prison hospice and green space programs spearheaded by Erik and Lyle, respectively.
Rapper Anrae Brown, aka “X-Raided,” testified about how the brothers had acted as his mentor when he was jailed for murder and guided him through his own parole process, helping him understand where and how he had gone wrong.
He colloquially referred to the brothers’ mentorship of other inmates as “Menendez University.”
But Bailan questioned Brown’s remorse for his own crime and joked that the only thing he learned from “Menendez University” was how to fool a parole board.
In the end, Judge Michael Jesic sided with Geragos, the family members and the brothers themselves, who delivered emotional statements of remorse at the end of the hearing.
Now, their fate lies with the state attorney general and Newsom.
The final hearing of the state parole board has been scheduled for June 13.
