What to know about Menendez brothers’ case and when could they be released

In 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents by shooting them repeatedly at close range at their mansion in Beverly Hills.

They were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder in 1996, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Public interest in the case has grown since a new Netflix drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was released in 2024. Their story continues to divide opinion.

In a resentencing hearing in May 2025 a judge made them eligible for parole. However in August, both brothers were denied release.

Erik, now 54, appeared before a panel at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on 21 August. He was told that he still posed a risk to public safety and had not been a model prisoner.

A day later 57-year-old Lyle, long regarded as the dominant sibling, was denied parole by a different board.

It cited the brutal nature of the killings and Lyle’s lack of self-control.

“We find your remorse is genuine,” parole commissioner Julie Garland told him. “But despite all those outward positives, we see … you still struggle with anti-social personality traits like deception, minimisation and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface.”

They can try for parole again in three years’ time – although this can be reduced to 18 months with good behaviour.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is examining a separate request to offer the brothers clemency – possibly in the form of a pardon.

Newsom, who is in the midst of a political transformation and might have his eyes set on a White House run, has the power to accept or reject any parole board recommendation.

In 2024, the previous district attorney of Los Angeles, George Gascón, requested that the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be changed to 50 years to life.

During a hearing at Los Angeles County superior court, the brothers apologised for their actions. Their bid for resentencing was supported by family members and a former fellow inmate.

Prosecutors said the brothers had continued to “make excuses” for their conduct instead of taking full responsibility and were not rehabilitated.

But the judge agreed to resentence the brothers, saying they had “done enough in the past 35 years that they should get that chance”.

The ruling made them eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law which allows those who committed crimes before the age of 26 to seek a reduced sentence.

The siblings were aged 18 and 21 at the time.

Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on 20 August 1989 at their home in Beverly Hills.

Their father, a 45-year-old Hollywood executive, was shot six times with a shotgun the brothers had purchased days before the attack.

Their mother died after suffering 10 shotgun blasts to several parts of her body.

The brothers initially told police they found their parents dead when they arrived home.

They were arrested after the girlfriend of a psychologist who had been treating Erik Menendez went to police to say that he had physically threatened the doctor.

The brothers claimed they committed the murders in self defence after years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse, although no molestation was ever proven in court.

They said they feared their father would kill them after they threatened to expose him.

However, prosecutors argued that the young men had killed their successful parents to inherit their multi-million-dollar estate.

The brothers were taken into custody in 1990, and in 1993 they were tried for the murders, first individually, with one jury for each brother.

However, both juries were deadlocked in 1994, resulting in a mistrial, and the pair were later tried again together in 1995.

During their joint trial the judge excluded apparent evidence of abuse from their defence case. Taped sessions with a doctor, in which the killings were discussed, were ruled admissible in court by the judge.

A jury found them guilty and the pair were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder in 1996.

The brothers, who were separated during their detention after a detective who investigated the slayings said they may conspire to escape if housed together, reunited in jail in 2018.

The case was thrust back into the spotlight after Netflix released a drama series about the brothers in September 2024.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, shot to the top of the platform’s streaming chart and was reported to have had more than 12 million views in the first weekend after release alone.

The programme explores what might have led the siblings to kill their parents and presents the murders from different perspectives.

Its creators said the series was based on extensive research.

It includes the brothers’ claims of abuse as well as showing things from the parents’ point of view.

The show introduced the case to a new generation and garnered attention from celebrities – including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell – who called for the brothers to be released.

The series was a follow-up to the controversial first Monsters series about US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Following its release, Erik Menendez shared a statement, released on X by his wife.

He said the show was “disheartening slander” and he “believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle”.

“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women,” he added.

Members of the family also spoke out and said the brothers had been “victimised by this grotesque shockadrama,” and the show was “riddled with mistruths”.

Ryan Murphy, who created the show, told Variety that the comments were “predictable at best”.

He added that the family’s response was “interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking. It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before”.