When Is the Menendez Brothers’ Retrial? Newest Replace on Their Court docket Listening to

Lyle and Erik Menendez have as soon as once more turn into a significant focal point as they proceed to serve life sentences with out parole for the 1989 homicide of their dad and mom, José and Kitty Menendez.

Their case gained renewed consideration first by means of Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, adopted by a Netflix documentary that featured beforehand unreleased cellphone name recordings between the brothers and director Alejandro Hartmann from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, the place they’re incarcerated.

With this renewed focus, new proof, and an upcoming court docket listening to, Lyle and Erik, now 56 and 53, could have an opportunity at freedom. For readers to remain up to date on the Menendez brothers’ case, HollywoodLife has compiled all the important thing data beneath.

Is the Menendez Case Being Reopened?

Erik and Lyle’s resentencing listening to has been scheduled for December 11. The date was set on October 30 by Los Angeles County Superior Court docket Choose Michael Jesic, after prosecutors submitted a suggestion for the brothers’ resentencing. Los Angeles County prosecutors have beneficial that the brothers obtain a brand new sentence of fifty years to life. As a result of they had been beneath 26 years outdated on the time of the crimes, they might be eligible for parole instantly beneath a California regulation that went into impact in 2018.

The Menendez brothers beforehand had a court docket listening to set for November 29, 2024, based on Variety, which adopted the invention of proof suggesting that their father, Jose, sexually abused his youngsters.

“We have now been given proof, together with a photocopy of a letter allegedly despatched by one of many brothers to a different member of the family, discussing being the sufferer of molestation,” Los Angeles District Lawyer George Gascón shared, per the outlet. He additionally talked about, “We’ve acquired proof offered by the protection, together with claims from a member of the Menudo band who alleged he was molested by the daddy.”

Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band sensation Menudo, spoke out within the 2023 Peacock documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, the place he alleged that he was abused by the music govt when he was 14.

Will There Be a Retrial?

It’s at the moment unclear if the brothers will face a retrial, however choices for resentencing and potential clemency have been set into movement by Gascón. Nonetheless, he was lately unseated by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who is about to take workplace on December 2.

Hochman revealed his preliminary plan for the case, telling CNN, “I should overview the confidential jail recordsdata for every brother, the transcripts from each trials, and converse to the prosecutors, regulation enforcement, protection counsel, and the victims’ members of the family. Solely then can I decide. If for some motive I would like further time, I’ll ask the court docket for that point.”

He added, “If I ask for a delay, it received’t be a delay for delay’s sake as a result of I believe the Menendez brothers, the sufferer members of the family, the general public should have a choice performed as quickly as it may be performed in an intensive method.”

Why Did the Menendez Brothers Kill Their Dad and mom?

The truth that the brothers—then 21 and 18—dedicated the crime was by no means unsure in the course of the trial, however their motivation has divided opinions over the a long time.

Through the proceedings, the brothers claimed they had been abused all through their childhood by their dad and mom. At their first trial, their legal professional, Leslie Abramson, argued that they killed their dad and mom in self-defense, fearing that their dad and mom would kill them in the event that they disclosed the years of alleged molestation that they had suffered at their father’s palms. She advised The Washington Put up in 1996, “These will not be murderers. These are troubled children in a really troublesome and grotesque dwelling atmosphere, they usually cracked.” On the time, many believed the motive was their dad and mom’ inheritance cash.

When you or anybody you understand has been sexually abused, name the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A educated workers member will present confidential, judgment-free help in addition to native assets to help in therapeutic, recovering and extra.

When you or somebody you understand is fighting substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).