ANOTHER CHANCE

Menendez Brothers Get Early Chance at Freedom—Again

The brothers, who have been in prison for more than 35 years, will have another shot at freedom in the spring.

The Menendez brothers’ next chance at early freedom is taking shape. The California Board of Parole Hearings has scheduled an early parole suitability hearing for Erik, 55, and Lyle Menendez, 58, tentatively set for March 2027. The siblings, who were convicted of murdering their parents with a shotgun inside their $5 million Beverly Hills home in 1989, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996. Attorneys for the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in 2023 in hopes of securing their freedom, claiming that new evidence points to their father, Jose, being a sexual abuser who also assaulted them and the former boy band member Roy Rosselló. The brothers have long claimed the murder of their parents was self-defense because they were sexually abused by their father for years—abuse they say their mother, Kitty, was aware of. The duo was resentenced to 50 years to life last year, making them immediately eligible for parole. They sought to be released that same year, but a parole board denied it in part due to their behavior in prison.