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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Menendez brothers resentencing hearing begins
Prosecutors are objecting to the pair being re-sentenced for the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez.
LOS ANGELES - Erik and Lyle Menendez's very first hearing in front of the California state parole board is set for Thursday, Aug. 21 and Friday, Aug. 22.
This comes after the brothers' initial clemency hearing scheduled in June was converted to a parole suitability hearing, according to their lawyers.
What will happen at the parole hearings?
What we know:
A panel of two or three parole hearing officers from a board of commissioners appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom will evaluate the brothers individually.
Erik Menendez will have his hearing Thursday morning, followed by Lyle Menendez on Friday, over videoconference from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
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The board will assess whether the brothers pose an "unreasonable risk of danger to society" if released, considering factors like criminal history, motivation for the crime and signs of remorse, behavior while in prison and plans for the future, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The delay came after Gov. Newsom withdrew his request for the parole board to evaluate the brothers for clemency as they seek freedom after 35 years behind bars for killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. They were 18 and 21 at the time.
In May, a Los Angeles judge opened the door to freedom by giving the brothers a new sentence of 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole under California's youthful offender law because they were under the age of 26 at the time of the crimes.
The judge ultimately ruled that Erik, now 54, and Lyle, 57, no longer pose an "unreasonable risk" if they were let out of prison.
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Family pushes for their release
What they're saying:
Anamaria Baralt, Erik and Lyle’s cousin, said that the new date was actually an advantage. She posted a TikTok video saying that it would benefit the brothers, since many convicts are not granted parole at their first hearing.
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"This is not a bad thing," Baralt said in the video. "Most people prepare for parole for like a year … the more time that they can have to prepare, the better."
Life sentences for the murder of their parents
The backstory:
The brothers are serving life sentences without parole for the murder of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, in 1989.
Erik, then 18, and Lyle, then 21, claimed that the murders came after their father — the chief operating officer of RCA Records — sexually abused them for years and their mother ignored the abuse. They have maintained that they feared for their lives and that José had threatened to kill them if they told anyone about the alleged sexual abuse.
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Meanwhile, prosecutors said the two brothers’ motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the murders.
In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers' allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father — a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, eight months before the August 1989 killings, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by José as a teenager.
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The case has captured the attention of true crime enthusiasts for decades and spawned documentaries, television specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" and the documentary "The Menendez Brothers," both released in 2024, have been credited for bringing new attention to the brothers.
What we don't know:
Full results of a state parole board risk assessment ordered by Gov. Newsom's office has not been released.
Only parts of the risk assessment were disclosed during the brothers' resentencing hearings in May.
Newsom gets final say
What's next:
Erik’s hearing will be on Thursday at 8:30 a.m., and Lyle will make his case on Friday morning.
The state parole board will rule on whether to release the brothers from prison.
While this is a crucial step, it isn't necessarily the final one.
Even if the board grants their parole, it could still be months before the brothers walk free — if at all. If the board grants each brother’s parole, the chief legal counsel has 120 days to review the case.
Newsom has 30 days to affirm or deny the parole. Only then, if Newsom affirms the parole, would the Menendez brothers be able to leave prison.
The Source: The information in this article is based on announcements from the Menendez brothers' lawyers and statements from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The details of the court proceedings, including the resentencing and the new hearing date, are derived from these sources and previous FOX 11 reports.