Lyle and Erik Menendez, who have served 35 years in prison for the 1989 murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home, were ruled eligible for parole by a Los Angeles judge at a re-sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
The Menendez brothers, held in custody since 1990 and originally sentenced in July 1996 to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, were each handed a new sentence of 50 years to life by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic.
The brothers, now 57 and 54, who appeared for the re-sentencing proceeding via live video feed from prison in San Diego, will remain incarcerated for the time being.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were jailed after admitting to fatally shooting their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez in 1989. Source: Getty / Los Angeles Times
"They [the brothers] had tears and they were smiling," Menendez attorney Cliff Gardner told Los Angeles television station KNBC-TV, relaying what he saw from the video link in court immediately after the ruling.
The outcome capped a day-long hearing in which several relatives, a retired judge and a former fellow inmate testified in support of defence efforts to shorten the brothers' sentence to time already served, or at least gain parole eligibility.
The brothers were found guilty in 1996 of first-degree murder for shooting to death their parents in 1989 as the couple watched television in the family room of their home. Source: AP / AP
Gascon said the pair had paid their debt to society and should be eligible for parole under the state's youthful offender statute since they were younger than 26 at the time of their offence. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18.
But Gascon's successor as district attorney, Nathan Hochman, opposed the re-sentencing after taking office earlier this year, arguing the brothers have yet to fully acknowledge and accept responsibility for the killings.
