Menendez Brothers Eligible for Parole After Judge Reduces Life Sentences

Erik and Lyle Menendez are eligible for early release after a judge reduced the brothers’ prison sentences Tuesday from life without parole to 50 years to life.

The brothers, who have spent 35 years behind bars, are now eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law because they were under the age of 26 when they committed their crimes. A California parole board must still decide whether they should be set free before the 50 years is up.

“I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said, according to the AP.

More to come …

EARLIER TUESDAY:

The first day of the Erik and Lyle Menendez’s resentencing hearing kicked off Tuesday with cousins, a former judge, and a former inmate testifying that the brothers’ rehabilitation was sufficient for release.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles judge presiding over the trial informed prosecutors that they would need to prove that the brothers – who have served nearly 30 years for the double murder of their parents Jose and Kitty – would still pose a threat if they were released from prison. The defense’s first witness of the day was Ana Maria Baralt, one of the brothers’ cousins.

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

A second cousin named Tamara Goodell also testified that, saying she brought her teenage son to visit them and lauded that they had a chance to do a lot of real good if released from prison.

A former fellow inmate of the brothers, Anerae Brown, cried on the stand recalling how the pair helped his rehabilitation journey while he was also behind bars through something he called “Menendez University.” Those programs helped Brown get released.

“I have children now,” he said. “Without Lyle and Erik I might still be sitting in there doing stupid things.”

Jonathan Colby, a former judge, also commented on the quality of the programs the brothers helmed while in prison. He was especially impressed by the ones that helped aid older and disabled inmates.

“There’s not many prisoners I meet like Erik and Lyle that have such concern for the elderly,” Colby added.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman remained unconvinced after the first day of the trial – which comes after numerous attempts to postpone or bar the hearings from happening. He spoke Tuesday that his office does not believe the brothers were sexually abused by their father – which they’ve argued was the case since the original trial in the ’90s.

“Our position is not ‘no,’ it’s not ‘never,’ it’s ‘not yet,’” Hochman said. “They have not fully accepted responsibility for all their criminal conduct.”

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