Erik and Lyle Menendez are scheduled for separate parole hearings this week, with Erik on Thursday and Lyle on Friday. Both were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life for the 1989 murders of their parents; they were 18 and 21 at the time. Defense attorneys claim self-defense after alleged long-term sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors assert a motive tied to a multimillion-dollar inheritance. A parole panel will evaluate risk factors including criminal history, motivation, remorse, institutional conduct and release plans via videoconference. A May reduction to 50 years-to-life made them immediately eligible, but release requires legal review and gubernatorial approval.
The Menendez brothers are scheduled to face separate parole hearings beginning Thursday, marking the closest they have been to winning freedom after spending nearly 30 years in prison in the slaying of their parents inside their Los Angeles home. Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for killing their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. They were 18 and 21 at the time.
Defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance. A panel of two or three parole hearing officers from a board of commissioners will evaluate each of the brothers via videoconference. Erik Menendez will have his hearing on Thursday morning, followed by Lyle Menendez on Friday, from prison in San Diego.
The brothers became eligible for parole after a Los Angeles judge in May reduced their sentences from life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole under California law because they were under 26 when they committed their crimes. The board will assess whether the brothers pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society if released,
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