Parole now possible after Menendez brothers see sentences reduced

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday reduced the sentences for Erik and Lyle Menendez, convicted of killing their parents in 1989, from life without parole to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole.

The resentencing, which had been supported by dozens of members of the Menendez’s extended family but opposed by the district attorney, means the Menendez brothers will be get a chance to plead their case for freedom in front of a parole board at some point in the near future, even as soon as a few months from now.

Judge Michael Jesic cited Erik and Lyle’s recent prison record, which includes participation in self-help programs and tireless work volunteering to beautify the prison, and their work with other inmates.

“I think it’s pretty amazing what both defendants have done,” Jesic said. “I do believe they’ve done enough so that one day they should get a chance.”

The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, said the ruling meant they were “one huge step closer to bringing the boys home.” Geragos had asked the judge for a sentence of time served, which would have seen his clients released immediately, without the need for a parole hearing.

“From my mind, this was the minimum they should get,” Geragos said, referring to the ruling. “This is a decision that will reverberate in the justice system.”

The day-long hearing included testimony from three family members, a retired judge and the rapper X-Raided, who was in prison with the brothers. It ended in dramatic fashion, with the judge finding that the brothers were deserving of a new sentence. The brothers themselves, attending the hearing over Zoom, then each read statements for the court.

“Thirty-five years ago, on Aug. 20, 1989, I committed an atrocious act of brutality on people who had every right to live,” said a tearful Erik Menendez, adding that the killing was “selfish, cruel and cowardly. I have no excuse, no justification. There is nothing that can make it any less wrong.”

His brother Lyle was similarly contrite.

“The choice to buy guns did not come from logic,” Lyle said. “I was scared and filled with rage. I should have asked for help.”

“The impact of my violent actions on my family … is unfathomable," he added.

More than 20 members of the extended Menendez clan, all of whom have supported Erik and Lyle’s freedom, attended the hearing. Most could be heard sobbing in the courtroom as the brothers read their statements.

The resentencing hearing comes from a relatively new law, passed by the California legislature in 2022, allowing district attorneys and certain prison officials to request new sentences for convicted felons. The law sets a fairly low bar once the request is made: The judge hearing the motion must start with a “presumption favoring recall and resentencing of the defendant, which may only be overcome if a court finds the defendant currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.” That risk of danger is defined by the likelihood that the prisoner, if released, would commit a “superstrike,” or serious violent felony punished by life in prison, such as murder, rape or manslaughter.

The Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing, as Judge Jesic put it, “is a little odd.” The motion for resentencing was filed by the previous district attorney, the reform-minded George Gascon, in the waning days of his term. His successor, Nathan Hochman, pledged to undo many of Gascon’s reforms — including the Menendez resentencing request, which he tried to withdraw. Judge Jesic rejected that request, but prosecutors were still allowed to argue against a new sentence at the long-awaited hearing.

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian argued that the brothers still do, in fact, pose a danger to society, though he offered little evidence to back that claim up, as Geragos pointed out.

“They have presented zip, nada, zilch about them being a danger to public safety,” Geragos said.

Balian also argued that the law gave the judge broad discretion in determining what the new sentence could be — the judge could, Balian said, “resentence” the brothers to the exact same sentence of life without the possibility of parole. He said reversing a jury’s verdict was “an extreme step.”

“They are not trustworthy,” Balian said. “They have proved this time and gain.”

During both of Erik and Lyle’s criminal trials, the first of which ended in a hung jury, they argued that the killings were in self-defense — they feared their parents were plotting to kill them. They also said that they were routinely sexually abused by their father, Jose Menendez. Balian and Hochman have both said that the brothers maintain their “patently absurd” self-defense argument, which is evidence that they lack insight into their crimes, and haven’t taken full responsibility for their actions.

But Judge Jesic said that those standards were for the parole board and not issues he had to consider.

“I can’t make findings that the defendants pose an unreasonable risk,” Jesic said. “The law requires that both defendants be resentenced.”

The brothers could go before the parole board in a few months. In the meantime, they have a clemency hearing set for June 13, also before the state parole board. Their findings will go toward advising the governor on the brothers’ application for clemency.

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