A California judge has declined a motion for a new trial for Erik and Lyle Menendez, effectively blocking another potential route to freedom for the brothers, who have been imprisoned for decades for the 1989 murder of their parents at their Beverly Hills home.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan delivered the decision on Monday, shortly after the brothers were refused parole. In May 2023, a petition was filed seeking a reconsideration of their convictions based on new evidence that supported their allegations of sexual abuse by their father.
Judge Ryan explained that while the new evidence lends some support to the claims of sexual abuse, it does not alter the conclusion that the brothers acted with “premeditation and deliberation” in committing the murders.
“The newly presented evidence is not compelling enough to create reasonable doubt for even a single juror or warrant an imperfect self-defense instruction,” the judge stated.
An email was sent to Mark Geragos, a lawyer for the brothers, seeking comment on the judge’s ruling.
On August 22, a panel of two commissioners denied parole for Lyle Menendez for three years following an extensive hearing, citing his continuing “anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization, and rule-breaking, which undermine his positive demeanor.”
Similarly, Erik Menendez, who is incarcerated at the same facility in San Diego, was denied parole the previous day. Commissioners concluded his poor conduct in prison still poses a threat to public safety.
The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion almost exactly 36 years ago on Aug. 20, 1989. While defense attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
A judge reduced their sentences in May, and they became immediately eligible for parole. The parole hearings marked the closest they have come to winning freedom since their convictions almost 30 years ago.
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