Menendez brothers resentenced; 50 to life; parole hearings Aug 2025

Two brothers once condemned to life without parole for the 1989 murder of their parents in Beverly Hills have moved closer to the possibility of freedom. Lyle and Erik Menendez were resentenced in May 2025 to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole under California law because they were under 26 at the time of the crime. Parole hearings are scheduled for August 21 and 22, 2025, conducted via video from a San Diego prison facility. A decision by the California Board of Parole will be followed by reviews from the board’s chief counsel and, ultimately, the governor, who maintains the final say in parole matters.

The case traces to a violent end in the Menendezes’ Beverly Hills home in 1989, when Jose and Kitty Menendez were fatally shot. In 1996, after two trials and extensive testimony alleging years of abuse, Erik, then 18, and Lyle, then 21, were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The prosecutions argued the killings were driven by a craving for a multimillion-dollar inheritance, while the defense asserted that years of sexual and physical...