Lyle and Erik Menendez will go before a California parole board this week, 36 years after murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills home.
Authorities re-sentenced the Menendez brothers to 50 years to life imprisonment, granting them potential parole eligibility following their 1996 conviction for the murder of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez.
The parole hearings, originally set for June 13, will now take place August 21 and 22.
NBC Los Angeles reports that Erik Menendez’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday, and Lyle Menendez’s hearing is scheduled for the following day.
They’ll appear via video from San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Each hearing is expected to take around two to three hours.
When evaluating parole, the board will assess various elements such as the brothers’ criminal records, conduct in prison, plans post-release, self-discipline, and the fact that they were young offenders at the time of the crime.
The Menendez brothers were both under 26 when the murders took place, which now allows them to qualify for parole hearings under the “Youth Offender Parole Hearings” initiative.
The California Board of Parole Hearings explains that this initiative is grounded in “scientific evidence showing that parts of the brain” continue to develop “through late adolescence, with full maturation not occurring until the mid-to-late 20s.”
If the chief counsel approves a parole grant, Governor Gavin Newsom will have 30 days to make his decision.
As previously noted by CrimeOnline, a jury originally sentenced the brothers to life without parole for the deadly shooting of their parents inside their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989.
The brothers said they killed their parents after suffering years of sexual abuse by their father. They also alleged their mother ignored the abuse.
In 2023, the brothers’ legal team submitted a habeas corpus petition to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, referencing newly discovered evidence, such as a letter Erik sent to his cousin Andy Cano months before the murders, alleging sexual abuse by their father.
Newsom has asked the parole board to conduct a full risk assessment to determine if the brothers pose a threat to public safety.
Check back for updates.
[Feature Photo: An Oct. 31, 2016 photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Erik Menendez, left, and a Feb. 22, 2018 photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Lyle Menendez. The Menendez brothers, who were convicted of killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion nearly three decades ago, have been reunited in the Southern California prison San Diego’s R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility. The brothers are serving life sentences for fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)]
