Lyle and Erik Menendez to face parole board for early release after 30 years in prison

Lyle and Erik Menendez are set to face parole hearings after almost thirty years in prison, marking the closest the brothers have been to freedom since their sentencing.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted for the 1989 murder of their parents, José and Kitty, with a shotgun in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.

The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996, but in May this year, had their sentences shortened to ’50 years to life’. This meant that the Menendez siblings became eligible for parole under California’s youth offender laws, because they were under the age of 26 when the crime was committed.

According to ABC News, Lyle and Erik will separately face “a panel of two or three parole hearing officers from a board of commissioners”.

Erik will have his hearing Thursday (21 August) morning, with Lyle on Friday. Both brothers are currently held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

The process for parole is lengthy, even if both brothers are approved by the board after being assessed to determine whether they pose an “unreasonable risk of danger to society” (according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation).

Chief legal counsel then has 120 days to review the case, and only once (and if) California Governor Gavin Newsom signs off on the decision (within 30 days), will the brothers leave prison on parole.

“I’m not saying they should be released; it’s not for me to decide,” Judge Michael Jesic said at their May resentencing. “I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.”

Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers, said at the time that they have been “universally forgiven” by their wider family for their actions.

“We all, on both sides of the family, believe that 35 years is enough,” Baralt said. “They are universally forgiven by our family.”

During their trial, the Menendez siblings’ defence attorneys said they feared their parents were going to kill them to cover up years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse they had suffered. Prosecutors argued the pair were young men eager to gain their multi-million dollar inheritance.

Renewed interest in the case was sparked by Ryan Murphy’s recent Netflix dramatisation of the murders in Limited Series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, where the pair were played respectively by Nicholas Alexander Chavez and out gay star Cooper Koch.

The series was labelled a “naive and inaccurate” portrayal of the pair by Erik himself, while some viewers have accused Murphy of creating “incestuous fetish porn”. Neither Lyle or Erik has ever identified as gay, despite insinuations in the series.

Despite this, a resurgence in popularity (which Murphy credited himself for) led to renewed media attention, including a visit to Erik in prison by Kim Kardashian and Koch.

The Menendez siblings claimed that they were “bullied” and “assaulted” in prison in February this year.

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