A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Tuesday resentenced Erik and Lyle Menendez to 50 years to life for murdering their parents.
The brothers were previously sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the double murder of their parents. They have served in prison for 35 years.
The state parole board is now tasked with deciding whether to grant them parole.
“I’m not saying they should be released, it’s not for me to decide,” Judge Michael Jesic said in court on May 13. “I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.”
The Menendez brothers appeared remotely at the resentencing hearing from a San Diego jail where they are currently incarcerated.
“I killed my mom and dad. I make no excuses and also no justification,” Lyle said in a statement to the court. “The impact of my violent actions on my family ... is unfathomable.”
Erik also spoke about taking responsibility for his actions and apologizing to his family. “You did not deserve what I did to you but you inspire me to do better,” he said.
While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman has consistently opposed their resentencing. Hochman said the brothers had not taken complete responsibility for the crime.
Outside the court on May 13, Hochman said it will be Gov. Gavin Newsom who will decide the fate of the Menedez brothers.
“If the parole board were to grant parole or even if they were to deny parole, it would end up with Governor Newsom and he makes the final determination … he and he alone on whether or not the Menendez brothers will ever get out on parole,” Hochman said at the press conference.
Neither Newsom’s office nor the California Board of Parole Hearings responded to NTD’s requests for comment by publication time.
A clemency hearing has been set for June 13.
“I’m hopeful now that Judge Jesic did what he was supposed to do and I’m hopeful now that the right thing will be done and they'll walk out,” the Menendez brothers’ defense attorney Mark Geragos said in a press conference outside the courthouse on May 13.
The Menendez brothers were convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder following more than a dozen shotgun blasts that occurred that night, including through the back of their father’s head, according to Hochman.
The father, the late Jose Menendez, was an entertainment executive at the time.
“The Menendez brothers engaged in a deliberate premeditated killing of their parents based on buying shotguns two days before the killings, going ahead and having a pre-planned alibi for the night that they were going to kill their parents,” Hochman added.
Erik and Lyle were 18 and 21 years old, respectively, at the time.
After the Menendez brothers had run out of ammunition, Hochman alleged they reloaded the shotgun and shot their mother’s face. The DA added that the brothers shot both of their parents’ knees to imitate a Mafia hit.
Erik testified that he had encountered long-term sexual abuse by his father between the ages of 6 and 18, and also recalled his father’s alleged sexual abuse of his brother between the ages of 6 and 8.
The brothers also claimed that their mother, Kitty Menendez, was complicit, abusive, and had failed to protect them. They said they feared for their lives, believing their parents may kill them to keep the abuse secret.
But the jury at the time were more convinced that the murders were calculated and motivated by greed over the defense’s claims of abuse and fear.
