What to Know
- The case of Erik and Lyle Menendez will go before a California parole hearing panel, a process that could result in their freedom after more than 30 years in prison for their parents’ murders.
- Erik Menendez’s case will be considered Thursday with his brother Lyle Menendez’s to follow on Friday.
- Sometime after the parole hearing, the panel will issue a decision. If parole is granted, the matter will eventually lands on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for his consideration.
- The path to the parole hearings was cleared earlier this year when a judge resentenced the brothers from life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life in prison.
- Lyle and Erik Menendez, convicted in the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents after two trials, became eligible for parole under California’s youth offender parole laws.
- California parole hearings last, on average, two to three hours. The brothers will appear on a video feed from prison near San Diego.
Lyle and Erik Menendez will go before a California parole board panel in two days of high-stakes hearings to determine whether the brothers continue serving time in prison for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents at the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.
Erik Menendez’s parole suitability hearing is scheduled to begin Thursday morning, 36 years and one day after the murders, with a separate hearing scheduled for Lyle Menendez on Friday. At the end of both hearings, members of the board will consider whether the brothers currently pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society if they are released from prison after three decades behind bars.
Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, Menendez were originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the second of their two murder trials. They became eligible for parole under California’s youth offender parole laws after a court resentenced them earlier this year.
Resentencing was placed on the table late last year by former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who said he supported the move. Gascón was voted out of office in November, new District Attorney Nathan Hochman made clear his office’s opposition to resentencing, but a judge in April denied prosecutors’ request to withdraw the resentencing motion filed months earlier.
That led to a pivotal decision in May, when a judge resentenced Lyle and Erik Menendez to 50 years to life in prison, which brings the decades-old case that has captured the attention of a new generation of Americans to this week’s parole hearings.
Convicts to social media stars? Erik and Lyle Menendez, who a judge ruled to now be eligible for parole following the killing of their parents, have received support on social media and coverage by Internet users. Jonathan Gonzalez reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
The brothers will appear on a live video feed from prison. California parole hearings last, on average, two to three hours and are typically conducts with two to three hearing officers from a larger Board of Parole Hearings pool of 21 full-time commissioners and 31 deputy commissioners.
In making their determination, members of the parole board panel will consider criminal history, correction department records about the brothers’ time in prison and statements from family members, prosecutors, the victims’ family and the brothers themselves. At the May hearing on resentencing, both brothers made statements via video feed from prison.
“I fired all five rounds at my parents and went back to reload. I lied to police. I lied to my family. I’m truly sorry,” Erik Menendez said.
Lyle Menendez also expressed regret over his actions 36 years ago on Aug. 20, 1989.
“I committed an atrocious act against two people who had the right to live, my mom and dad,” he said. “Today, 35 years later, I am deeply ashamed of who I was.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom discussed what he will consider if the Menendez brothers are recommended for parole.
After that hearing, Judge Michael Jesic said he couldn’t “make a finding that they are an unreasonable risk” and issued the decision that made them eligible for parole.
The parole hearing panel uses what’s called a Structured Decision-Making Framework to assess the risks of releasing the brothers from prison. The assessment tool is built on several factors, including criminal history, self-control at the time of the crime, institutional behavior, personal change and other considerations.
At some point following the hearing, possibly the same day, the panel will grant or deny parole. If denied, the brothers’ attorney can ask the full parole board to review the case. If granted, the board’s chief counsel has up 120 days to review the decision.
There’s also the possibility of a tie if there are an even number of parole panel members. A decision would then go to the full parole board using a transcript of audio from this week’s hearings.
If a grant is upheld by the chief counsel, the case would go to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who would have 30 days to review the decision. The governor can affirm, reverse and modify the decision. He also can send the case back to the board for review in any case involving a murder.
If the does nothing, the panel’s decision stands.
Newsom has not indicated what he might do, but he spoke about the case and interest around the brothers on his podcast with “Monsters” creator Ryan Murphy. After premiering in September 2024, Murphy’s show renewed public attention and push for the brothers’ resentencing.
The governor said he never watched the show.
“I kept having a temptation to want to see it, but with the recognition always in the back of my mind that this thing may land on my desk,” Newsom told Murphy. “I don’t want to be persuaded by something that’s not in the files.”
If parole is denied, the brothers still have two possible paths to freedom — a grant of clemency from Gov. Newsom and a motion for a new trial that is still working through the legal system.
Great Job Jonathan Lloyd & the Team @ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth Source link for sharing this story.
