In the summer of 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez burst into the den of their family’s Beverly Hills home armed with shotguns and opened fire, killing their mother and father.
After the brothers were charged in the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, they said they gunned down their parents after years of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their father — an allegation disputed by prosecutors, who argued the claims were false and the siblings were motivated by financial gain.
Their televised trial, which captured the brothers recounting the alleged abuse in grim and graphic detail, ended when the jury could not reach a verdict. After a second trial, the siblings were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
In October, Los Angeles County’s former top prosecutor, George Gascón, said the brothers had been model prisoners and recommended that they be resentenced to 50 years to life in prison. If a judge agrees, they could be eligible for parole immediately and potentially released from prison.
The district attorney's office also reviewed a separate effort aimed at freeing the brothers — a petition that seeks to overturn their convictions and have them retried.
Gascón was voted out last November. The county's new district attorney, Nathan Hochman, has said he opposes both the petition and the resentencing request.
Here are key dates in the case:
Aug. 20, 1989: A grisly murder in Beverly Hills
Kitty and Jose were shot to death in their den. In a frantic 911 call that night, Lyle reported that someone had killed his parents.
The brothers initially told authorities that the killings could have been linked to their father’s work — he was a wealthy executive at an entertainment company whose founder had ties to the pornography industry — but authorities found no evidence to support the claim and focused on the brothers.
In the days after the double murder, investigators discovered that the brothers had been spending lavishly and, believing they could be disinherited from the family’s multimillion-dollar estate, sought out their father’s will.
March 8, 1990: The brothers are arrested
Beverly Hills Police announced Lyle’s arrest. Erik, who was in Israel for a tennis tournament, was in custody days later.
When their trial began three years later, the brothers relied on a legal doctrine known as “imperfect self-defense” and testified that their father had sexually abused them for years. Lyle said he’d been molested from the ages of 6 to 8; Erik said it was going on at the time of the killings.
The siblings fatally shot their parents, they testified, after Lyle confronted Jose about his brother’s abuse. When Lyle threatened to expose his father, he testified, Jose appeared to threaten him and his brother.
Prosecutors alleged that the sex abuse claims were false and identified money as the motive in the killings.
Jan. 13, 1994: Sentenced to life without parole
A mistrial was declared after separate juries for the brothers could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether they should be convicted of murder, as prosecutors sought, or manslaughter, if they believed the defense.
During a retrial the following year, the brothers were not allowed to invoke imperfect self-defense after a ruling from the state’s high court. And after prosecutors discovered that Lyle had asked a friend and an ex-girlfriend to make false claims for the defense, he did not testify at the retrial.
They were convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Oct. 24, 2024: A chance for release
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that he would seek to have the brothers resentenced to 50 years to life, a term that would make them immediately eligible for parole.
The prosecutor said that while their crimes were brutal and premeditated, the brothers had been “exceptional” inmates who helped others behind bars, remained out of trouble and took college courses.
Hochman, who took office Dec. 2, has said he will review the facts, evidence and law before making a decision on the requests to resentence the brothers.
A two-day hearing on the matter is scheduled for March.
The district attorney's office also reviewing the petition that was filed in May 2023 after the release of Peacock’s “Menudo + Menendez: Boys Betrayed,” which included a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band accusing Jose Menendez of raping him. (Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
At the time, Jose Menendez was an executive with RCA Records, which had a multi-album contract with the band.
The band member, Roy Rossello, submitted an affidavit in the brother's petition alleging that their father raped him before and after a show in New York City when he was 13.
Also included in the petition is a photocopied letter that Erik said he wrote to a cousin months before the murders.
The letter appears to show Erik telling the cousin about the abuse and saying that it’s getting worse.
Hochman has said he opposes the petition because it does not meet the standard required for a judge to order a new trial. And he said he had withdrawn his office's motion seeking to reduce their sentences because he does not believe they've taken accountability for their crimes and deception associated with their actions.
Relatives of the brothers who support their release said the prosecutor is holding the siblings "hostage" and has "fixated on their trauma-driven response to the killings in 1989 with blinders on to the fact they were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions.”
The brothers have also sought clemency from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. That process is ongoing.