{"id":137341,"date":"2025-05-14T01:14:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/erik-and-lyle-menendez-can-be-resentenced-for-their-parents-murders-judge-rules-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T01:14:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:14:59","slug":"erik-and-lyle-menendez-can-be-resentenced-for-their-parents-murders-judge-rules-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/erik-and-lyle-menendez-can-be-resentenced-for-their-parents-murders-judge-rules-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik and Lyle Menendez can be resentenced for their parents' murders, judge rules – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LOS ANGELES \u2014 A California judge on Tuesday resentenced Erik and Lyle Menendez<\/a>, clearing the way for the siblings to be on parole after serving decades in prison for the 1989 shotgun murder of their parents.
The ruling from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic came after months of delays<\/a>, opposition from Los Angeles County’s new top prosecutor<\/a> and a series of witnesses who testified during a sometimes emotional hearing Tuesday that Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, had changed for the better and are now “different men,” as a cousin, Anamaria Baralt, put it.
The Menendez brothers have been serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for the murder of Jos\u00e9 and Kitty Menendez on Aug. 20, 1989, at their Beverly Hills home.
Jesic said they would be resentenced to 50 years to life, a prison term that will make them immediately eligible for parole. He said he did not believe they posed an “unreasonable risk” if released.
The brothers began giving statements via videolink immediately after the judge’s ruling, with Lyle saying he made no excuses for killing his parents and acknowledging that he made a “mockery of the legal system” after his arrest by seeking to have people perjure themselves on his behalf.
“<\/strong>Today, 35 years later, I am deeply ashamed of who I was,” he said.
Erik echoed those comments. His crimes were “cruel and vicious,” he said, adding that he is “directly responsible for it all.”
Among those to speak on the brothers’ behalf was a retired judge who described himself as “very pro-law enforcement” and said he’d never before testified for someone convicted of a crime.
Another witness, a rapper who goes by “X-Raided,” said he met the siblings in prison and attributed his release under California’s youthful offender law to them.
“I went to what I call Menendez University,” he said, recalling how they helped him and other inmates learn to express remorse and gain insight into their crimes.
During two trials between 1993 and 1996, the brothers testified that they killed their parents in self-defense after Lyle threatened to expose his father’s alleged abuse of his brother.
Prosecutors described the killings as cold-blooded and financially-motivated.
The first trial ended with a hung jury. They were convicted of first-degree murder after the second.
Prior to being voted out of office in November, former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gasc\u00f3n cited the siblings\u2019 \u201cexceptional\u201d prison records and rehabilitation efforts and recommended that they be resentenced to 50 years to life in prison. The former prosecutor\u2019s efforts were backed by many of the victims\u2019 relatives and some celebrities.
Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s successor, Nathan Hochman, opposed their release, saying the brothers had not taken full responsibility for a series of \u201cunacknowledged\u201d lies that he said they told about the killings.
\u201cOur position is not no or not never,\u201d Hochman said of their resentencing before Tuesday\u2019s hearing. \u201cIt\u2019s not yet. The Menendez brothers have failed to come clean with the full extent of their criminal conduct, their cover up, their lies and their deceit over the past 30 years.\u201d
A lawyer for the brothers, Mark Geragos, accused the prosecutor of trying to \u201crelitigate\u201d the facts of the case and said the only issue before the judge was determining whether the defendants will commit a \u201csuperstrike,\u201d or a serious crime.
“On a day like today, redemption is possible,\u201d Geragos said after Jesic made his ruling. “We\u2019re one huge step closer to bringing the boys home.”
The judge\u2019s ruling only makes the brothers eligible for parole. The state\u2019s parole board will still have to find them suitable for release, a process that is subject to review by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
As part of a separate clemency request the brothers filed with Newsom, he ordered the board to conduct an evaluation<\/a> to determine what danger the brothers may pose if released. Hochman said that evaluation, known as a comprehensive risk assessment, found that the brothers were at \u201cmoderate risk\u201d of violence.
The parole board is expected to submit its clemency recommendation to the governor on June 13.
Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter\u00a0for NBC News. He\u00a0covers the Western U.S., specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.\u00a0
Shanshan Dong is a producer for NBC News in Los Angeles.\u00a0
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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ProfileSectionsLocaltvFeaturedMore From NBCFollow NBC News news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeLOS ANGELES \u2014 A California judge on Tuesday resentenced Erik and Lyle Menendez, clearing the way for the siblings to be on parole after serving decades in prison for the 1989 shotgun murder of their parents.The ruling from Los Angeles Superior Court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}