JUDGE Judy Sheindlin is putting rumors to rest about her opinion on the infamous Erik and Lyle Menendez case.
Last year, the television judge found herself embroiled in a legal dispute with the newspaper company responsible for the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly, following an article that alleged she was advocating for a retrial of the brothers.
The article, titled “Inside Judge Judy’s Quest to Save the Menendez Brothers Nearly 35 Years After Their Parents’ Murder,” was published on InTouch Weekly’s website last year and later surfaced in its sister publication, the National Enquirer.
“When you fabricate stories about me to make money for yourselves without regard for the truth or the reputation I’ve spent a lifetime cultivating, it’s going to cost you,” Sheindlin stated at the time.
“When you’ve done it multiple times, it’s unconscionable and will be expensive. It has to be expensive so that you will stop.”
After she filed a defamation lawsuit against the Accelerate360 Media company for the article, she said she had nothing to say about the case.
Now, she’s making it clear what her thoughts are on the pair’s verdict, standing by the jury’s decision.
“What we know about the Menendez brothers is that they killed both of their parents,” Sheindlin told USA Today.
“As we know, after they killed their parents, they went on a buying spree. They got a jury trial, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.”
The case garnered national attention at the time of the killings.
Since then, multiple shows and documentaries have been released on the story, keeping the curiosity of viewers across the country.
Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18, were convicted of shooting and killing both of their parents, Kitty and José, in 1989.
In court, the pair claimed that José was abusive and that they had feared for their lives.
In 1996, the two were sentenced to life in prison.
But many have since called for their release due to alleged circumstances surrounding their family life.
“They’ve done incredibly well in prison, but that doesn’t mean they get another chance,” Sheindlin said of the brothers.
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case dates back more than three decades since their parents were found shot to death at their Beverly Hills mansion.
Below is a timeline of the brothers’ case, starting at the gruesome crime scene:
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested outside his parents’ Beverly Hills mansion.
March 11, 1990 – Erik surrenders to police after flying back into Los Angeles from Israel.
December 1992 – Murder charges against the brothers are officially filed.
July 20, 1993 – The murder trial, highly publicized on Court TV, begins in Los Angeles with Erik and Lyle each having a separate jury.
January 28, 1994 – The first trial ends with two deadlocked juries.
October 11, 1995 – Lyle and Erik’s second trial begins with one jury.
March 20, 1996 – The Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
July 2, 1996 – Lyle and Erik are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons.
February 22, 2018 – Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison, where Erik is held.
April 4, 2018 – Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik – the first time the brothers were reunited in over 20 years.
May 2023 – Lyle and Erik’s attorney files a habeas corpus petition after Roy Rosselló, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, made sexual abuse allegations against Jose Menendez in a Peacock docuseries.
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story releases on Netflix.
October 3, 2024 – Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón says his office is reviewing new evidence in connection with Lyle and Erik’s convictions.
October 7, 2024 – The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix.
October 16, 2024 – Family members of the Menendez brothers hold a press conference begging for the siblings to be released from prison.
October 24, 2024 – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommends the brothers be resentenced.
November 25, 2024 – The Menendez brothers appear in court for a status hearing to learn their resentencing hearing is pushed back from December 11 to allow new DA Nathan Hochman more time to review the case.
January 30-31, 2025 – Erik and Lyle’s resentencing hearing was initially set but had to be rescheduled due to the California wildfires.
February 21, 2025 – Hochman officially opposes a new trial for the brothers.
February 26, 2025 – California Governor Gavin Newsom orders the parole board to conduct a “comprehensive risk assessment” of the Menendez brothers.
March 10, 2025 – Hochman asks the court to withdraw Gascón’s resentencing motion
April 11, 2025 – Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic denies Hochman’s motion and allows the resentencing process to continue
April 17-18, 2025 – Brothers are scheduled to go before the judge at their resentencing hearings
“That is their sentence. Until Kitty Menendez can stand up before a judge and say, ‘Give them another chance,’ the jury and the courts have spoken.”
The judge then went on to say that she’d get “a lot of flak” for her opinion.
“Now you have my answer.”
Sheindlin did not immediately respond for comment.
In 2021, Sheindlin finished her famous television series, Judge Judy, after two and a half decades.
The show had more than 7,000 episodes.
