The California Board of Parole has moved up a suitability hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez to March 2027. The brothers were resentenced in May 2025 under California's youthful-offender law and became eligible for parole consideration. Parole commissioners denied bids in August 2025, citing prison misconduct, illegal cellphone possession and concerns about "anti-social" behavior. The family said the resentencing gives them hope for a future reunion.
Menendez Brothers Granted Early Parole Suitability Hearing, Tentatively Set For March 2027
FILE – Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave a courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., Aug. 6, 1990, after a judge ruled that conversations between the brothers and their psychologist after their parents were slain were not privileged and could be used as evidence. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
The California Board of Parole has agreed to advance a parole suitability hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, giving the brothers another opportunity to seek release as early as March 2027.
Background
Lyle Menendez, 58, and Erik Menendez, 55, were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family's Beverly Hills home. The brothers were originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. They later admitted to the shootings but have long maintained they acted in self-defense after alleging years of sexual abuse by their father; prosecutors have argued the motive was financial.
Resentencing and Parole History
Following a change in California law governing youthful offenders, both brothers were resentenced in May 2025 and became eligible for parole consideration. In August 2025, parole commissioners denied each man's request for release after citing conduct while incarcerated. Reviewers pointed to rule-breaking and illegal possession of cellphones in custody; two commissioners specifically described Lyle as displaying "anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface." Erik's denial came days earlier for similar reasons.
Although standard procedure often requires a multi-year wait before reapplying, the Board of Parole granted a request to advance the brothers' next suitability review and tentatively scheduled a hearing for March 2027.
"For almost 40 years, Erik and Lyle have worked to take responsibility for their actions," the Menendez family said in a statement. "Erik and Lyle were once sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. We will always be profoundly grateful that they have been resentenced and that our family can now imagine a future in which they are once again part of our daily lives."
The decision to advance the hearing does not guarantee release but provides an earlier opportunity for the brothers to make their case for suitability for parole. The tentative March 2027 date is subject to confirmation by the parole board.
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