Menendez brothers are resentenced. See the timeline of their murder case from 1989 to now
The Menendez brothers, imprisoned over 30 years in the gruesome shotgun murder of their parents, are one step closer to possible release after a Los Angeles judge ruled they are eligible for parole.
Erik, 54, and Lyle Menendez, 57, have been serving life sentences without the possibility of parole since they killed their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez on Aug. 20, 1989. In a highly anticipated ruling on May 13, Judge Michael Jesic handed each brother a new sentence of 50 years to life.
Decades in the making, the bid for resentencing was one avenue to freedom for the brothers, something many of their family members have long advocated for. The Menendez brothers have long argued they killed their parents out of self defense after facing years of sexual and physical abuse. They remain in prison for the time being.
Here's a timeline of their case, from the shotgun murders in 1989 through their resentencing:
1989: Jose and Kitty Menendez are murdered
The night of Aug. 20, 1989, police discovered the wealthy parents dead in their Beverly Hills mansion. They were killed by multiple gunshot wounds fired at close range while they watched television in their family room. Jose Menendez was a successful music executive and Kitty Menendez was a socialite.
Erik Menendez was 18 and Lyle Menendez was 21 at the time of the killings.
The brothers initially denied involvement and tried to make the incident look like an organized crime hit while they went on a lavish spending spree.
1990: Menendez brothers arrested and charged
Lyle Menendez was arrested on March 8, 1990, and Erik Menendez turned himself in a few days later after returning from an international trip. Their detainment came after they allegedly confessed their crimes to a therapist. They were charged with first-degree murder with a special circumstance of lying in wait, which would make them eligible for the death penalty.
Their case and trials would spark national media attention, becoming one of the most publicized murders of the decade.
1993-94: First Menendez trial ends with hung jury
The original trial began in 1993 and featured testimony from both the brothers accusing their father of horrific physical and sexual abuse. Their attorneys argued that the young men killed their parents out of self-defense, because they believed, perhaps irrationally, that their parents were going to kill them to silence them about the abuse.
Prosecutors claimed the brothers were lying and were motivated to kill their parents by the roughly $15 million fortune they stood to inherit.
In January 1994, jurors in both brothers' cases could not come to a decision, forcing mistrials.
1996: Conviction, life sentence for Menendez brothers
The brothers were retried beginning in 1995. This time, substantial evidence of the abuse the brothers said they suffered at the hands of their parents was excluded, their attorneys have said.
They were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Menendez brothers spend decades in prison
The brothers have served over three decades in prison. They spent most of their time in prison apart, but were reunited in the same housing unit in 2018.
During that time, Erik Menendez helped found a hospice program for terminally ill inmates and Lyle Menendez founded a program that focuses on helping inmates understand their childhood trauma, including sexual abuse.
2023: New allegations surface against Jose Menendez
A member of the 1980s pop band Menudo said in a May 2023 Peacock documentary series called "Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed" that Jose Menendez had abused him. Former Menudo member Roy Rosselló said in the documentary that Jose Menendez drugged and raped him.
"It's sad to know there was another victims of my father, you know I always hoped and believed that one day the truth about my dad would come out," Erik Menendez told the "Today" show. "But I never wished for it to come out like this ... the result of trauma that another child has suffered."
2024: A new push for release for Menendez brothers
A groundswell of support for the brothers followed the release of a dramatized portrayal on Netflix in September 2024 and the documentary "The Menendez Brothers" in October 2024. The brothers have long enjoyed the support of many family members, who also advocate for their release.
Celebrities like Kim Kardashian also weighed in in support of their release. She wrote in an opinion piece for NBC News that a lack of awareness and pervasive stigma about sexual abuse against boys clouded their chances at a fair trial.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said in the fall of 2024 he was considering new evidence in the case, including a letter Erik Menendez allegedly wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders, which described abuse.
"I’ve been trying to avoid dad. Its still happening Andy but its worse for me now,” the letter said. “I never know when its going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
"He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone," the letter went on.
In October 2024, Gascón announced he filed a motion for the brothers' resentencing, arguing they had "paid their debt to society." The next month, Gascón lost his reelection to Nathan J. Hochman, who held an opposing view on resentencing.
2025: Menendez brothers win resentencing
The resentencing proceedings faced continual delays, including because of January 2025 wildfires in Southern California. Meanwhile, Hochman tried to withdraw the resentencing petition altogether, and said the brothers had not taken accountability for their actions and called their abuse claims fabrications.
In April 2025, Jesic, the judge in the case, ruled that the resentencing could go forward.
Jesic said on May 13 during the resentencing hearing that the brothers' crime was "horrific," but marveled at their rehabilitation.
"My crime was not just criminal. It was wrong. It was immoral. It was cruel and it was vicious," Erik Menendez said in court.
"Today, 35 years later, I am deeply ashamed of who I was," Lyle Menendez said.
Jesic reduced the brothers’ sentences to 50 years to life, a prison term that will make them eligible for parole under California law.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had also scheduled a June 2025 parole board hearing date to determine whether an application for clemency can go forward. The brothers will stay in prison while the state parole board and Newsom decide their fate.
Contributing: Christopher Cann, N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Michael Loria, Thao Nguyen, Karissa Waddick, John Bacon, Minnah Arshad, Morgan Hines and Christal Hayes, Paste BN; Reuters