LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez will be eligible for parole after a judge on Tuesday reduced the brothers’ sentences for murdering their parents from life without parole to 50 years to life.
The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering their father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Their case reached a major turning point last year when then- Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said he was reviewing new evidence in the case.
The brothers would still need approval from the state’s parole board to get out of prison. They could potentially go free on time served after spending nearly 30 years in prison for the murders. The state parole board will ultimately rule on whether to release them from prison.
Here’s a look at their case over the last three decades:
March 1990: Lyle Menendez, then 21, is arrested. A few days later, Erik Menendez, 18, turns himself in. They are charged with first-degree murder.
July 1993: The Menendez brothers go on trial, each with a separate jury. Prosecutors argued that they killed their parents for financial gain. The brothers’ attorneys don’t dispute the pair killed their parents, but argued that they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father.
Jan. 1994: Both juries deadlock.
Oct. 1995: The brothers’ retrial begins, this time with a single jury. Much of the defense evidence about alleged sexual abuse is excluded during the second trial.
March 1996: Jurors convict both brothers of first-degree murder.
July 1996: The brothers are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
February 1998: A California appeals court upholds the brothers’ conviction, and three months later, the state Supreme Court agrees.
October 1998: The brothers file habeas corpus petitions with the California Supreme Court. After they are denied the next year, they file petitions in federal district court, which are also denied.
September 2005: The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denies their habeas corpus appeal.
May 3: Attorneys for the Menendez brothers ask the court to reconsider the convictions and life sentences in light of new evidence from a former member of the boy band Menudo, who said he was raped by Jose Menendez when he was 14. In addition, they submit a letter that Erik wrote to his cousin before the killings about his father’s abuse.
Sep. 19: Netflix releases the crime drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, ” a nine-episode series about the killings.
Oct. 4: Gascón says his office is reviewing new evidence in the case.
Oct. 16: Multiple generations of family members of the Menendez brothers hold a news conference pleading for their release from prison. The relatives say the jurors who sentenced them to life without parole in 1996 were part of a society that was not ready to hear that boys could be raped.
Oct. 24: Prosecutors say they will petition the court to resentence the brothers, and that it could lead to their release.
Nov. 18: California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he would not decide on granting the brothers clemency until after the newly elected district attorney has a chance to review the case.
Nov. 25: A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge holds a hearing regarding the request for resentencing but says he needs more time to make a decision, delaying the resentencing hearings.
Dec. 3: Nathan Hochman is sworn into office as the new district attorney of LA County.
Feb. 21: Hochman says his office will oppose a new trial for the Menendez brothers. He cast doubt on the evidence of sexual abuse. The following week, Newsom orders the state parole board to conduct a “comprehensive risk assessment” to determine whether the brothers have been rehabilitated and if they would pose a danger to the public if released.
March 10: Hochman says his office won’t support resentencing the brothers because they have repeatedly lied about why they killed their parents.
April 11: Judge denies prosecutors’ request to withdraw their resentencing petition. The following week, resentencing hearings scheduled are delayed due to disputes among prosecutors and the brothers’ lawyers, who say they will ask to remove Hochman’s office from the case.
May 9: Hochman’s office remains on the case as the judge again denies prosecutors’ request to withdraw their resentencing petition.
May 13: Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduces the brothers’ sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life. They are immediately eligible for parole because they committed the crime under the age of 26. The state parole board must still decide whether to release them from prison.
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)
FILE - Lyle, left, and Erik Galen Menendez sit in Beverly Hills, Calif., courtroom, May 14, 1990 as a judge postponed their preliminary hearing on charges of murdering their parents last August. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)
