Erik and Lyle Menendez were re-sentenced Tuesday to 50 years to life behind bars, opening the door for them to be considered for parole.
The brothers, imprisoned at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, have served roughly 35 years of a life-without-parole sentence for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in Beverly Hills.
The decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic does not automatically mean the pair will be released. They will have to appear before a parole board, which will recommend whether they should be freed.
The panel’s decision would then go before Gov. Gavin Newsom, who could reject their release.
Jesic noted that the new sentence means the brothers’ fate is now “up to the parole board and the governor.”
Both brothers spoke via video from prison, apologizing for their actions and to their relatives. They also both gave emotional testimony about their work to turn their lives around while incarcerated.
“During the past 35 years, I have worked hard to find out what kind of person would kill their parents,” Erik Menendez, 54, said. “… For a long time I lost hope and became self-destructive.”
Erik Menendez said he believes he turned a corner when he dedicated himself to caring for the elderly and the terminally ill. And he assured the judge that whether he remained in prison or was released, “I will not stop trying to make a difference.”
Roughly two years after an effort began to have the Menendez brothers released, their re-sentencing hearing got underway Tuesday. Family members testified that if set free from life prison terms, the brothers would pose no future risk and could be expected to inspire people with good deeds.
The brothers killed Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez in their Beverly Hills home on for Aug. 20, 1989. They claimed the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.
During the morning session Tuesday, three Menendez family members were called to the stand by the defense to try and convince the judge that the brothers had shown remorse and had great insight into their crimes.
The first witness, Erik and Lyle Menendez’s cousin Anamaria Baralt, was adamant that the brothers have earned their chance at freedom.
“We believe that 35 years is enough,” she told a courtroom crowded with family members, supporters and media, as the Menendez brothers watched via video from Otay Mesa. “They are universally forgiven by our family. They deserve a second chance at life.”
She added that the family has suffered from the “relentless attention” the case has stirred up.
“It’s been torture for decades to live this out in the public eye,” Baralt, 54, said, weeping. “To be the butt of every joke on SNL (“Saturday Night Live”) since (the trial) happened.
The cousin spoke harshly about “the narrative that they have not completely taken accountability (for their crimes). They feel terrible about it.”
In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers’ allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
They include a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager.
Prosecutors allege the murders were carried out due to greed, to acquire their parents’ money.
Meanwhile, state parole boards are set to conduct separate hearings on June 13 for the brothers, then send their reports to Newsom to help him decide whether the two should receive clemency.
Jesic said prior to the start of the hearing Tuesday that he had not determined if the Menendez brothers should be re-sentenced at all.
Another cousin, Tamara Goodell, testified that the brothers “have made every possible effort to rehabilitate themselves. … They now see the world through 35 years of healing. They have created careers for themselves in prison.”
Another witness, Diane Hernandez, niece of Kitty Menendez, called Erik and Lyle Menendez “remarkable human beings. There is absolutely no chance that they would break the law (if released). Their only desire is to do good.”
Interest in the Menendez case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series.
In October, then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced he was in favor of the brothers being re-sentenced to make them eligible for parole. Since the brothers were under 26 at the time of the murders, they could be eligible for parole through the state’s youthful offender law.
However, when he was elected, new District Attorney Nathan Hochman decided that he did not support re- sentencing. He contends that the brothers have not shown “insight” into their crimes during their years of incarceration and continue to lie about the alleged abuse.
Last week, attorneys for the brothers withdrew a motion asking that the D.A.’s office be removed from the case, saying they wanted to expeditiously move forward with their bid to have the pair re-sentenced.
Attorneys for Erik Menendez, and Lyle, 57, had alleged in the motion that “absent recusal (of the District Attorney’s Office), a conflict of interest would render it likely that the defendants will receive neither a fair hearing nor fair treatment through all related proceedings.”
But in court Friday, the brothers’ defense team dropped its bid to have the D.A.’s office removed from the case, saying they did not want any more delays in the re-sentencing hearing.
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