After Their Resentencing, Menendez Brothers Could Go Free As Soon As June 13

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Emily BaxterMay 19, 2025, 5:26 pmHome Featured, News >

A California judge has resentenced the Menendez brothers, and now they have a real chance at release.

Lyle Menendez, 57, and Erik Menendez, 54, were initially sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of their parents in the den of their Beverly Hills home in 1989.

The brothers claimed the homicides were a response to years of sexual abuse by their father, Jose Menendez, which they said their mother, Kitty Menendez, knew about and ignored.

In May 2023, 34 years after the murders, the brothers’ lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking a new trial based on new evidence, bringing the case back into the spotlight.

The case became an even bigger sensation after Netflix released a new nine-episode season of its true crime anthology, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, in 2024. Following the success of the limited series, Netflix also released a documentary, The Menendez Brothers, a month later.

The new evidence they hoped would help their case was a letter Erik wrote eight months prior to the murders, where he mentioned his father’s molestation and [boy band star] Roy Rosselló‘s claims that he was drugged and raped by José in the 1980s.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon supported the resentencing, but lost the election in November 2024 and was replaced by Nathan Hochman, who opposed it.

Ultimately, Judge Michael Jesic endorsed the recommendation of the former district attorney and resentenced the siblings to 50 years to life, which opened up the possibility of parole.

Jesic said he’d given the matter “long thought,” acknowledging they committed an “absolutely horrific crime, and there’s no way around it.”

“Life without parole gives an inmate no hope, no reason to do anything good,” Jesic said. “And I give them a lot of credit. It’s remarkable what they did when they had no hope of getting out.”

Defense attorney Mark Geragos praised the decision, saying, “I want to do a hat tip to Judge Jesic, who was able to cancel out all the noise surrounding this, all of the grandstanding, all of the political back and forth — he did what justice said should happen.”

“The fact is, the Menendez brothers have done remarkable work, and today is a great day after 35 years,” Geragos added. “On a day like today, redemption is possible.”

Jesic’s ruling allows the brothers to make their case for freedom at a hearing to determine whether they’re suitable for parole. The hearing is scheduled for June 13 — a date previously set aside for hearings in a separate effort to seek clemency from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which oversees the parole system.

“Since the ruling makes them immediately eligible for parole consideration as youth offenders, it is the Board’s intent to convert the June 13, 2025, clemency hearings to initial parole suitability hearings,” stated Scott Wyckoff, executive officer of Board of Parole Hearings, in a letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

If the parole hearing takes place, commissioners will be tasked with determining whether the brothers pose an unreasonable risk of danger. Prosecutors, victims’ relatives, and others can weigh in on the question.

The brothers’ family members, including their maternal aunt Joan VanderMolen, have openly supported their release by testifying at their re-sentencing hearing.