What was the Menendez brothers original sentence? 1996 Conviction explored as siblings eligible for parole after resentencing

In an new update in the highly publicized case of the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez have been resentenced. On May 13, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, Michael Jesic, resentenced the brothers to 50 years to life, as per NBC. The resentencing makes the brothers eligible to apply for parole.

The Menendez brothers, subject of Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Mary 'Kitty' Menendez, in 1996. They were originally given two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of applying for parole, according to Today. The brothers were 21 and 18 years old at the time of the murders.

On August 20, 1989, Jose Menendez, who worked with Carolco Pictures and his wife Kitty were shot multiple times with two shotguns at their home in Beverly Hills, as per Today. The news outlet also confirmed that initially, authorities were led to believe the couple were killed by the mob or by a business rival, owing to the appalling nature of the deaths.

Investigations led the police to first arrest the older Menendez son, Lyle, in 1990, soon after which, Erik also decided to surrender, according to Los Angeles Times.

The first trial of the Menendez brothers ended in hung juries

Today noted that the Menendez brothers were tried together with two separate juries beginning in 1993.

According to a report in the The New York Times dating back to the trial, the brothers’ defense consisted of alleging that the murder was a result of the brothers suffering years of s*xual ab*se by their father.

The report notes that the brothers’ trial ended up a mistrial as a result of two hung juries in 1994. The juries in the case of both brothers were divided when it came to the knowledge of the brothers being ab*sed by their father, as per The New York Times. The news publications notes that the votes of the jurors were divided among charging the brothers with second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter, with only a few jurors voting for a first-degree murder charge.

About the Menendez brothers’ second trial

While the first Menendez trial was widely publicized, Judge Stanley Weisberg ensured that the single jury trial, which began in 1995, would not be televised, according to a Today report. Moreover, the judged also ruled that the because of its irrelevance to the murder trial, all evidence related to the brothers’ s*xual ab*se allegations would not be admissible in the second trial.

At the trial, a piece of evidence that came up was a letter allegedly from Lyle to a girlfriend, which sparked controversy as the defense’s legal team questioned its authenticity. According to Los Angeles Times, the letter gave directions to Lyle’s former girlfriend, Traci L. Baker, on how to testify about a dinner at the Menendez home. As per the news outlet, Erik’s lawyer, Leslie Abramson, gave a statement with regard to the letter, saying,

“If this was authenticated or even capable of being authenticated, we would have heard about it, which makes me think it’s a hoax, a forgery or illegally obtained, in which case it’s inadmissible in court.”

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Eventually, in March 1996, the brothers were convicted of killing Jose and Kitty Menendez, in a verdict that pronounced their son’s guilty, according to The New York Times.

Another report by The New York Times a few months later noted that the Menendez brothers had been sentenced to life without the possibility to apply for parole. The jury decided not to recommend death penalty for the Menendez brothers.

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