Erik Menendez, one of the two California brothers convicted of murder, is facing his parole hearing in California today.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, officials resentenced the brothers to 50 years to life in prison, making them eligible for parole after their conviction for killing their parents, José and Kitty Menendez.
The parole hearings, originally set for June 13, will now take place August 21 and 22. The hearings will be held at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, where both brothers are currently housed.
NBC Los Angeles reports that Erik Menendez’s hearing is scheduled for today, and Lyle Menendez’s hearing is scheduled for the following day.
The panel, according to FOX News Digital, will consist of two to three governor-appointed parole commissioners. They will evaluate each brother on factors such as criminal history, their behavior behind bars, a release plan, self-control, and their youth offender status when the murders occurred.
No video or audio will be allowed during the hearings.
If parole is granted, the board’s chief counsel has 120 days to review the decision. California Gov. Gavin Newsom then has 30 days to approve or reject it.
“If they recommend release, that decision will go to the governor’s desk first, so the Menendez brothers won’t be released immediately,” Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told FOX News Digital.
“Newsom will have to sign the order, and it may take days to do so. Similarly, if the board denies parole, Newsom can still pardon the brothers or commute their sentence. If the brothers are not paroled, they will have to wait years to go before the board again.”
The brothers were under the age of 26 when the crime occurred, and after the resentencing, they became eligible for parole under the “Youth Offender Parole Hearings.”
According to the California Board of Parole Hearings, the program is based on “scientific evidence showing that parts of the brain” are still maturing “through late adolescence and that adolescent brains are not yet fully mature until a person is in his or her mid-to-late 20s.”
A jury initially sentenced the brothers to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting their parents in the den of 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, their attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing newly uncovered evidence, including a letter Erik wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, in 1988, eight months before the killings.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He so overweight that I can’t stand to see him. I never know,” the letter read. “When it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy.”
“Every night, I stay up thinking he might to come. I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do.
“He’s crazy! he’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle. Am I a serious whimpus? I don’t know I’ll make it through this. I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.”
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said earlier this year that he felt the letter was not credible evidence, as it didn’t show self-defense, as the brothers claimed.
“Sexual abuse in this situation may have been a motivation for Erik and Lyle to do what they did, but it does not constitute self-defense,” Hochman said, according to ABC 33 News.
Check back for updates.
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[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)
