LOS ANGELES (AP) — The district attorney of Los Angeles County has recommended resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez who were convicted for killing their…
The district attorney of Los Angeles County has recommended resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez who were convicted for killing their parents in 1989 and may now have a pathway to freedom after spending 34 years behind bars.
Here are some things to know about the case:
The shotgun killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez took place on Aug. 20, 1989, in their Beverly Hills mansion. Their son Lyle Menendez was the one who called 911, with brothers initially claiming the killing was Mafia-related or connected to their father’s business dealings. The brothers went on spending sprees, buying Rolex watches, cars and houses. Two months later, Erik Menendez told his psychologist, Jerome Oziel, that he and his brother killed their parents. They were eventually arrested and charged in their parents’ deaths.
The murder case captured the public’s attention. Coming on the heels of the O.J. Simpson trial, the nation was hungry for true crime TV. The brothers’ first trial was one of the first to be almost entirely televised on Court TV. It spawned documentaries, television specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama “ Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers,” released in the fall of 2024, have been credited in recent weeks for bringing new attention to the case.
The brothers’ first trial took place in 1993 with separate juries. Prosecutors argued that they killed their parents for financial gain. The brothers’ attorneys never disputed the pair killed their parents, but argued that they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father.
Both trials resulted in a hung jury on all three counts for the killing of Jose and Kitty Menendez, and the conspiracy to commit murder. The juries were split over murder and manslaughter convictions.
