Menendez brothers lose bid for new trial

The Menendez brothers, who’ve been locked up for decades for killing their parents in 1989, were dealt another setback in their quest to be released from prison on Monday when a Los Angeles County judge denied their motion for a new trial.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of murder in connection with the August 1989 shotgun killings of their parents in their Beverly Hills home.

The brothers argued in the motion, filed in 2023, that new evidence supported their long-asserted claims that they were sexually abused by their father, Jose Menendez, a wealthy business and former music executive. They said their mother, Kitty Menendez, had been complicit.

Included in that evidence was a letter from Erik Menendez to a cousin, which the brothers' said supported their claims, and a declaration from a former member of the singing group Menudo, who said he was sexually assaulted by Jose Menendez in the 1980s.

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But Superior Court Judge William Ryan said in his ruling that he did not believe the evidence would have changed the outcome for the brothers in trial. He said the new evidence was "not particularly strong."

The judge also said that the jurors — even if they had believed the claims of sexual abuse — were ultimately asked to consider whether the brothers killed their parents with "premeditation and deliberation," the legal elements of first-degree murder.

"The evidence is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror," Ryan wrote in his ruling.

Background on the case

Erik Menendez, now 54, was 18 years old at the time of the shootings. Lyle Menendez, now 57, was 21.

They were tried twice in connection with the killings. The first trial ended in with a hung jury and mistrial. They had argued they believed their lives were in danger at the time of the killings, and that their actions constituted imperfect self defense, not murder.

The sexual abuse evidence was limited in the second trial, and the jury reached a verdict.

The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

After they spent decades in prison, the brothers' petitioned for a resentencing hearing that would give them a chance at being released from prison. Later, each of their sentences was changed to 50 years to life.

Last month, the brothers were denied parole in separate hearings. Parole commissioners said they took into account the brothers’ positive actions while in prison — working to support fellow inmates, earning college degrees — as well as their ages at the time of their crimes.

But they also found each sibling would still pose a danger to the public if released, despite their efforts at rehabilitation.

Parole authorities noted that each brother had broken rules in prison, including being caught with a cellphone. One commissioner said Lyle Menendez “still struggles with deception,” despite being a model inmate in many ways.

The next time the brothers will be eligible for parole will be in three years.

What's next?

There is still the possibility that they could be granted clemency by Gov. Gavin Newsom, but the governor has not said whether he intends to grant that request.