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A California judge has rejected a request for a new trial for Erik and Lyle Menendez, saying the allegations that the brothers were sexually abused did not supersede their “premeditation and deliberation” when they killed their parents more than 35 years ago.
The ruling Monday by Los Angeles superior court judge William C Ryan comes just weeks after the brothers were denied parole and shuts down another possible path to freedom for the two who have served nearly 30 years in prison. Ryan denied a May 2023 petition seeking a review of their convictions based on new evidence supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for fatally shooting their father, José Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. They were 18 and 21 at the time. While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The parole hearings in August – coming after a judge reduced their sentences in May – marked the closest the two have come to winning freedom since their convictions almost 30 years ago for murdering their parents.
The judge wrote that the new evidence that “slightly corroborates” the allegations that the brothers were sexually abused does not negate the fact that the pair acted with “premeditation and deliberation” when they carried out the killings.
“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,” the judge wrote.
Mark Geragos, a lawyer for the brothers, wouldn’t immediately comment on the judge’s ruling.
A panel of two commissioners on 22 August denied Lyle Menendez parole for three years after a daylong hearing. Commissioners noted the older brother still displayed “anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface”.
Erik Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, was similarly denied parole a day earlier after commissioners determined that his misbehavior in prison made him still a risk to public safety.
During his hearing, Erik Menendez offered his most detailed account in years of how he was raised and why he made the choices he did – both at the time of his parents’ killings and during his decades in prison.
“I was not raised with a moral foundation,” he said. “I was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal in the sense, an abstract way.”
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In the last year, support from celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and a greater recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has helped amass a legion of supporters who have called for their release. Some have flown to Los Angeles over the past few months, holding rallies and attending court hearings as the brothers’ attorneys pushed for their resentencing.
The previous LA county district attorney, George Gascón, first opened the door to possible freedom for the brothers last fall by asking a judge to reduce their sentences. Since their conviction, the brothers have gotten an education, participated in self-help classes and started various support groups for fellow people in prison, his office said in a petition.
The judge’s decision to ultimately resentence the brothers followed months of pushback from current prosecutors.
Associated Press contributed reporting
