Menendez Brothers reportedly denied new trial after judge finds evidence lacking

Freedom has once again slipped from the grasp of the Menendez brothers as their two-year-old habeas corpus petition has been rejected. An LA Superior Court judge, William C. Ryan, rejected new evidence from the brothers that purports to support their claims that their father had sexually abused them.

The judge added that while the evidence slightly corroborates the defendant’s allegations of abuse, it does nothing to disprove that they had carried out premeditated murder against their parents.

“The purported new evidence that slightly corroborates that petitioners were sexually abused does not negate the finding of premeditation and deliberation and the lying-in-wait special circumstance.”

Judge William added:

"The evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror or supportive of an imperfect self-defense instruction.”

He concluded that the brothers could appeal the ruling at the appellate court:

"I trust that the appellate courts will reach the same result that Judge Ryan has reached here and find it utterly meritless,"

Judge William’s ruling comes after the brothers were denied parole in late August 2025.

More details on the Menendez brothers' case as the petition for a new trial gets denied

Erik and Lyle Menendez were initially sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for killing their parents with shotguns in August 1989. The brothers claimed that they committed the gruesome murders after years of abuse and sexual abuse.

The Menendez brothers were resentenced to fifty years to life in prison in May 2025, making them eligible for parole this year. They had the support of over 20 family members to be freed. Erik Menendez, in his statement after the resentencing, expressed that it was the first step in building hope for others in prison:

"This has to be the first step in giving people who have no hope in prison some hope," he said. "My goal is to ensure there are no more people spending 35 years in prison without hope. That possibility of having hope that rehabilitation works is more important than anything that happened to me today."

The state panel rejected their applications for parole. The Menendez brothers will be eligible to seek parole again in three years.

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