The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has announced it will request a resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for murdering their parents. A judge will make the final determination on resentencing, which could potentially lead to the Menendez brothers’ release, at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 26.
The Menendez brothers’ case has seen significant attention in recent weeks thanks to Netflix’s release of the documentary Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. But the legal process has been in motion since 2023, when the brothers’ legal team filed a habeas corpus petition citing new evidence, including allegations of abuse.
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At the time of the murders, Lyle Menedez was 21 and Erik was 18. Initially, they blamed an unknown intruder, and the gruesome crime scene led officials to believe the case had ties to the Mafia. But an extravagant spending spree in the ensuing months and other suspicious behavior—including Erik’s recorded confession to his psychologist—ultimately led to the brothers’ arrest.
Prosecutors believed that Lyle and Eric murdered their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, for money, knowing they’d inherit their father’s multimillion-dollar estate. But the Menedez brothers’ defense argued that the murder was an act of self-defense. They said the two had been sexually, emotionally, and physically abused by their father for years—and their mother never intervened.
Still, prosecutors insisted the crime was premeditated and that the brothers were fabricating the abuse. A first trial ended in a mistrial, but a second resulted in convictions of first-degree murder for both brothers. Notably, the second trial allowed less evidence about the alleged abuse.
Recently, however, some of the brothers’ family members have been asking for a retrial—especially with new evidence surfacing. For one thing, Erik wrote a letter to his cousin, Andy Cano, in December 1988—months before the murder. In it, he detailed his father’s abuse.
“I’ve been trying to avoid Dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now,” the letter reads. “I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
Additionally, in recent years, a member of the boy band Menudo came forward with his own claims of being drugged and raped by José Menendez when he was a teen. At the time, he worked with José at his company, RCA International, a music label. His allegations are actually part of a petition filed to have the brothers’ convictions overturned.
Not to mention, there’s also a recent California law on resentencing that would allow the court to revisit this case—and LA District Attorney George Gascón believes the brothers deserve this opportunity.
“We are going to recommend to the court [on Friday] that the life without the possibility of parole be removed and they would be sentenced for murder,” Gascón said.
Doing so would reduce the sentence from life to 50 years to life; however, because the brothers were both under 26 when they committed the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately.
“I believe that they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said. However, “the final decision will be made by the judge.”
