When will the case of Menandes brothers be released

In 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez shot close-range shots at their Beverly Hills mansion, killing their parents.

They were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Public interest in the case has grown since the release of the new Netflix drama Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in 2024. Their stories continue to diverge.

At a resentment hearing in May 2025, the judge qualifies them for parole. However, in August, both brothers were refused to be released.

Erik, 54, appeared in front of a team from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on August 21. He was told that he still poses a risk to public safety and is not a model prisoner.

One day later, Lyle, 57, who has long been regarded as a major sibling, was denied parole by another board of directors.

It cites the cruel nature of killing, and Lyle lacks self-control.

“We found your remorse is real,” Parole Commissioner Julie Garland told him. “But despite all these external positives, we’ll see… you’re still struggling with antisocial personality traits such as deception, minimization and rule breaking, which is under the positive surface.”

They could try parole again in a three-year period – despite good behavior, they could simplify it to 18 months.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is working on a separate request to provide fraternal forgiveness – possibly in the form of pardon.

Newsom, in The middle of political transformationhas the right to accept or reject any parole board recommendations.

In 2024, George Gascón, a former Los Angeles district attorney, asked the brothers for their lives to be sentenced without the possibility of parole, changing it to 50 years.

During a hearing in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the brothers apologized for their actions. Their competitive bid was supported by family members and former prisoners.

The prosecutor said the brothers continued to “make excuses” for their actions, rather than taking full responsibility and not recovering.

But the judge agreed to feel resentful of the brothers, saying they “have done enough in the past 35 years that they should have a chance”.

The ruling qualifies them for parole under the California Young Offenders Act, which allows those who commit crimes before the age of 26 to seek reduced sentences.

The siblings were 18 and 21 years old at the time.

Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their home in Beverly Hills on August 20, 1989.

Their father, a 45-year-old Hollywood executive, was shot dead six times by the brothers who bought a shotgun a few days before the attack.

Their mother died of 10 shotgun explosions.

The brothers initially told police that they found their parents died when they returned home.

They were arrested after treating the girlfriend of a psychologist Erik Menendez, saying he had a physical threat to the doctor.

The brothers claimed that after years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, they committed self-defense murders despite not proving harassment in court.

They said they were worried that their father would kill them after threatening to expose him.

But prosecutors argued that the young men killed successful parents to inherit their millions of dollars in property.

The brothers were detained in 1990 and murdered in 1993, first of all, each brother jury.

However, two juries were at a deadlock in 1994, leading to crimes, and the two later tried together again in 1995.

In their joint trial, the judge excluded obvious evidence of abuse from his defense. The recording of the murder was discussed with the doctor and the judge was ruled in court.

The jury found them guilty, and the two were convicted of first-degree murder and murder in 1996.

After investigating the killings, the two brothers who were separated during the detention period said they might escape if they were staying together and were reunited in prison in 2018.

The case regained attention after Netflix released a TV series about the brothers in September 2024.

Monster: The story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, filmed to the top of the platform’s streaming rankings, reportedly having more than 12 million views in the first weekend after its release alone.

The plan explores what could lead to siblings killing their parents and proposes murders from different perspectives.

Its creators say the series is based on extensive research.

It includes the brothers’ abuse claims and the display of things from the perspective of parents.

The show introduces the case to a new generation and has attracted the attention of celebrities – including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell, who call on the brothers to release them.

The series is a follow-up to the controversial First Monster series about American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

After the release, Erik Menendez shared his wife’s statement on X.

He said the show was “depressing” and he “believed that we have surpassed Lyle’s lies and portrayal of devastating characters”.

He added: “It’s hard for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedy surrounding our crimes has taken the painful truth a few steps back – back to an era when prosecutors build narratives on a system of belief that men are not sexually abused, while men and women suffer different rapes.”

Family members also shouted loudly and said the brothers were “harmed by this weird shock dance” and the show was “full of misunderstandings.”

Ryan Murphy, his performance, Tell the variety Comments are “foreseeable at best”.

He added that the family’s response was “funny because I wanted to elaborate on what they thought was shocking or not. It wasn’t like we were doing anything. It was all raised before.”