A judge has reduced the Menendez brothers’ murder sentences – meaning they could be eligible for release.
Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54, received life sentences without the possibility of parole in 1996 after being convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home several years earlier.
Last year, Los Angeles district attorney George Gascon asked a judge to change the brothers’ sentence from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County superior court Judge Michael Jesic did so, paving the way for their parole and possible release.
The ruling capped off a day-long hearing in which several relatives, a retired judge and a former fellow inmate testified in support of efforts to shorten the brothers’ sentence.
The brothers appeared at the proceedings in Los Angeles County Superior Court via video feed from prison in San Diego.
They did not show any apparent emotion during much of the testimony but chuckled when one of their cousins, Diane Hernandez, told the court that Erik received A+ grades in all of his classes during his most recent semester in college.
“I killed my mom and dad. I make no excuses and also no justification,” Lyle said in a statement to the court. “The impact of my violent actions on my family … is unfathomable.”
Path to freedom?
After the judge’s decision, the brothers now have a new path to freedom after nearly 30 years in prison.
They are now eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law because they committed the crime under the age of 26.
The state parole board must still decide whether to release them from prison.
While this decision is made, the brothers will remain behind bars.
“I’m not saying they should be released, it’s not for me to decide,” Judge Jesic said. “I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.”
During the original trial, prosecutors accused the brothers of killing their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance, although their defence team argued they acted out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse by their father.
The brothers have maintained that their parents abused them since they were first charged with the murders.
A Netflix drama series and subsequent documentary about the brothers thrust them back into the spotlight last year, and led to renewed calls for their release – including from some members of their family.
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