Menendez Brothers’ Murder Case From Arrest to Resentencing: A Timeline
Erik and Lyle Menendez MIKE NELSON/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Erik Menéndez and Lyle Menéndez‘s homicide case has performed out within the public for over three a long time from two high-profile trials to a life sentence — and a renewed likelihood at freedom.
After their dad and mom, José and Kitty Menéndez, have been discovered useless in 1989, Erik and Lyle turned the prime suspects. The brothers were both arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree homicide. Two subsequent trials resulted in Erik and Lyle’s conviction and a life sentence with out the potential of parole. Erik and Lyle, in the meantime, have maintained that their mom and father have been bodily, emotionally and sexually abusive and that their actions have been that of self-defense.
The Menéndez brothers remained behind bars as their case continued to be referenced in episodes of Regulation & Order, The Contemporary Prince of Bel-Air and The Sopranos. Erik and Lyle have been additionally cited a number of occasions on the FX drama The Individuals v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016, which Ryan Murphy government produced.
Murphy formally explored the Menéndez story in September 2024 together with his Monsters sequence. Nicholas Alexander Chavez introduced Lyle to life whereas Erik was performed by Cooper Koch. José and Kitty, in the meantime, have been portrayed by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, respectively.
Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story labored laborious to ensure the forged resembled their real-life counterparts. The ten-episode restricted sequence, which will probably be launched on September 19, follows Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who have been convicted for the 1989 homicide of their dad and mom. The siblings confessed to the crime and claimed they killed […]
The chief producer has since identified how his present created renewed curiosity in Erik and Lyle — despite their disapproval over how they have been portrayed.
“They’re now being talked about by hundreds of thousands of individuals everywhere in the world. There’s a documentary popping out in two weeks about them, additionally on Netflix. And I feel the attention-grabbing factor about it’s it’s asking folks to reply the questions, ‘Ought to they get a brand new trial? Ought to they be let loose of jail? What occurs in our society? Ought to folks be locked away for all times? Is there no likelihood ever at rehabilitation?’” he instructed Selection in September 2024. “I’m curious about that, and lots of people are speaking about it. We’re asking actually troublesome questions, and it’s giving these brothers one other trial within the court docket of public opinion. From what I can inform, it’s actually opened up the likelihood that this proof that they declare that they’ve, perhaps that there’s going to be a approach ahead for them.”
Erik and Lyle were granted a new hearing for his or her case one month later after the Los Angeles District Legal professional’s workplace cited new proof indicating that their father allegedly molested them. The Los Angeles District Legal professional’s workplace beneficial in October 2024 that Erik and Lyle’s sentence be diminished. They have been resentenced to 50 years in Could 2025, which made them eligible for parole sooner or later however Erik’s request was in the end denied.
Maintain scrolling for a whole timeline of occasions in Erik and Lyle’s case, from the preliminary arrest to their new likelihood of being launched from jail:
1989
José and Kitty have been discovered useless at their Beverly Hills dwelling in 1989. After Lyle referred to as the police, authorities found José was shot six occasions and Kitty was shot 10 occasions. Lyle and Erik weren’t initially named individuals of curiosity, because the police pursued different avenues together with a possible Mafia hit.
Erik Menéndez and Lyle Menéndez‘s authorized points resulted in two high-profile trials — however the place are the important thing gamers from their homicide case now? The Menéndez brothers’ dad and mom, José and Kitty Menéndez, have been discovered useless at their Beverly Hills dwelling in 1989. After Lyle referred to as the police, they found José was shot six occasions and […]
1990
Erik and Lyle Menendez Ted Soqui/Sygma by way of Getty Pictures
Within the months after their dad and mom’ deaths, Erik and Lyle confessed to the murders to their therapist, Jerome Oziel. Oziel recorded their conversations, where they discussed the crimes, and the siblings have been later arrested after the authorities have been tipped off concerning the tapes.
On the time of the homicide and brothers’ confessions, Oziel was having an affair with Judalon Smyth. Oziel instructed his mistress concerning the classes with the Menéndez brothers. Smyth was the one to report what she knew to the police after Oziel ended their relationship. (Oziel subsequently misplaced his license to apply in 1997 for violating affected person confidentiality and after being accused of getting intercourse with feminine sufferers, in response to the Los Angeles Occasions.)
Oziel instructed Bustle in 2017 that claims of his skilled impropriety have been “flatly and fully false.”
Lyle and Erik have been arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree homicide every.
1992
Erik and Lyle Menendez VINCE BUCCI/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
It took years earlier than a trial was set because of the tapes doubtlessly violating doctor-patient confidentiality. After a lot litigation, Choose James Albrecht subsequently dominated that tapes of the conversations between Erik and Oziel have been admissible proof since Oziel claimed Lyle threatened him, which violated his privilege as a affected person.
The ruling was appealed, resulting in a two-year delay in authorized proceedings. The Supreme Court docket of California dominated in 1992 that a lot of the tapes have been admissible besides one, through which Erik mentioned the murders. A Los Angeles County grand jury ultimately issued indictments later that 12 months that charged the brothers with the murders of their dad and mom.
1993
Erik and Lyle have been initially tried individually as they alleged that years of bodily, emotional and sexual abuse triggered them to shoot their mom and father. The case led to a mistrial after the jury was unable to succeed in a unanimous determination.
Erik and Lyle Menéndez‘s homicide case was thrust again into the highlight with Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters — and now they might stroll free after years behind bars. The Menéndez brothers’ dad and mom, José and Kitty Menéndez, have been discovered useless at their Beverly Hills dwelling in 1989. After Lyle referred to as the police, they found José was shot […]
1995
Erik and Lyle Menendez KIM KULISH/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
When the retrial started, a lot of the proof surrounding the abuse couldn’t be used as a protection. Erik and Lyle — who have been tried collectively — have been in the end discovered responsible of first-degree homicide.
1996
Jurors deliberated between life without parole or the loss of life sentence earlier than selecting the previous in 1996.
“Lyle was positively nearer to getting the loss of life penalty than Erik and lots of jurors made speeches reminiscent of Bruce Seitz, each in favor of Lyle and in opposition to him. After the case, once I spoke with the juror who had the center assault, we mentioned the loss of life penalty,” former juror Lesley Hillings recalled in an interview with reporter Mary Jane Stevenson. “I defined to her a number of the decide’s directions and what we might and couldn’t take into account, and she or he then questioned whether or not or not she too would have been in a position to vote for the loss of life penalty below these circumstances.”
Erik and Lyle appealed the choice a number of occasions. The California Court docket of Attraction upheld Lyle and Erik’s homicide convictions in 1998 and the Supreme Court docket of California declined to overview the case later that very same 12 months. Each Menendez brothers filed habeas corpus petitions with the Supreme Court docket of California in 1999, which have been additionally denied.
2000s
Erik and Lyle Menendez Kypros/Getty Pictures
Each Menéndez brothers filed habeas corpus petitions with the USA District Court docket that have been in the end denied in 2003. Erik and Lyle’s protection group determined to attraction to the USA Court docket of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which resulted in one other denial in 2005.
Amid their makes an attempt to get a brand new trial, Erik and Lyle have been transferred to totally different prisons following their sentencing. Lyle was taken to Mule Creek State Jail whereas Erik moved round from Folsom State Jail to Nice Valley State Jail. The brothers reunited in 2018, after they have been moved into the identical housing unit at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility — their first reunion since they started serving their sentences almost twenty years prior.
2023
Peacock released a docuseries in 2023 titled Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, the place singer Roy Rosselló alleged he was drugged and raped when he was a teen by Erik and Lyle’s father, José. The accusations from the previous Menudo band member was included in a petition filed with Los Angeles County Superior Court docket.
The court docket paperwork requested a retrial whereas citing new evidence in the case, reminiscent of Rosselló’s allegations in opposition to José and a newly found letter Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months earlier than the murders.
“No one had checked out [the cousin’s personal] results till 2015, and that’s when it was discovered, 10 years after our final attraction,” Erik and Lyle’s post-conviction legal professional Mark Geragos mentioned in a press release to Individuals in September. “We’re saying the second trial didn’t comport with constitutional protections for a wide range of causes. And a Habeas [Corpus petition] has new proof. It requires new proof as a result of this case had principally been moribund for near 17 years.”
Ted Soqui/Sygma by way of Getty Pictures Erik Menéndez and Lyle Menéndez each discovered companions whereas serving out their particular person life sentences following a high-profile homicide case. The Menéndez brothers have been arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree homicide after their dad and mom — José and Kitty — have been discovered shot to loss of life of their dwelling. Two […]
2024
(L to R) Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez. Miles Crist/Netflix
Season 2 of the hit Netflix sequence Monsters debuted in September and chronicled Lyle (Chavez) and Erik’s (Koch) lives earlier than, throughout and after the homicide of their dad and mom. Episodes 4 and 5 obtained crucial acclaim and fan reward for introducing Erik and Lyle’s abuse claims in opposition to their dad and mom, however the remainder of the season got here below hearth for a number of inaccuracies.
Erik launched a press release slamming Monsters and its depiction of him and Lyle one day after it was launched.
“I believed we had moved past the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, making a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes rampant within the present,” learn a press release from Erik that was shared by way of Lyle’s Fb web page. “I can solely imagine they have been executed so on objective. It’s with a heavy coronary heart that I say, I imagine Ryan Murphy can’t be this naive and inaccurate concerning the info of our lives in order to do that with out dangerous intent.”
Murphy, nevertheless, stood by his determination to not choose a facet on display screen. Lower than one week after Monsters was launched, Netflix introduced that Lyle and Erik were interviewed for The Menéndez Brothers documentary. The October 2024 launch contains footage from conversations with juror Betty Oldfield, Kitty’s sister Joan Vander Molen and prosecutor Pamela Bozanich.
The brothers additionally obtained public assist from Koch and jail reform activist Kim Kardashian, who visited the pair in jail and wrote a personal essay for NBC News advocating for his or her launch. They have been resentenced in Could 2025 to 50 years and could possibly be launched from jail after going by means of the parole board. Erik’s request was denied in August 2025.
2025-08-22 03:01:00
