Menendez brothers are one step closer to being released – what happens next?

Published

6 months ago

May 14, 2025

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The Menendez brothers, who were sentenced to life for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, are now eligible to be released from prison for the first time after being resentenced.

Lyle Menendez, 56, and his 53-year-old brother Erik have spent 35 years behind bars for the shotgun murders of their father and mother, Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The brothers have claimed that their parents abused them and have argued that the killings were an act of self-defence.

A Netflix drama series about the brothers called Monsters, which aired in September, thrust them back into the spotlight and led to renewed calls for their release, including from their family.

Now, a long-delayed resentencing hearing has offered them a path to freedom for the first time since their incarceration.

But how is it possible, and what happens next?

What does the resentencing mean?

Before leaving his role in December, former LA district attorney (DA) George Gascon asked LA County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic to review the brothers’ convictions.

During the resentencing on 13 May, he gave them a revised sentence of 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for youth parole under California’s youthful offender law because they committed the crime while under the age of 26.

The judgment was based on whether the pair had been rehabilitated based on their behaviour in prison.

The brothers’ case highlighted some of their achievements behind bars: attaining several degrees and contributing to the community.

It listed a prison “beautification programme” Lyle Menendez started called GreenSpace as one example, and added that both brothers had received low-risk assessment scores, with Lyle apparently not being involved in a single fight during his time in jail.

The brothers’ attorneys pushed for the judge to resentence the brothers to manslaughter, which would have allowed them to be immediately released, but he gave them a revised murder sentence instead.

Handing them the new sentence, Judge Jesic said: “I’m not saying they should be released, it’s not for me to decide.

“I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.”

The resentencing hearing had faced lengthy delays due to the judge needing to review a large number of files, as well as the LA wildfires in January.

There was also a turnover in the DA’s office, with liberal leaning Gascon replaced by the more conservative Nathan Hochman, who repeatedly attempted to have the resentencing hearing thrown out.

Emotional testimony in court from brothers and family members

The brothers appeared at the proceedings in Los Angeles County Superior Court via video feed from prison in San Diego.

“I killed my mum and dad. I make no excuses and also no justification,” Lyle said in a statement to the court. “The impact of my violent actions on my family… is unfathomable.”

Erik also spoke about taking responsibility for his actions and apologising to his family.

He said: “You did not deserve what I did to you, but you inspire me to do better.”

The brothers chuckled when one of their cousins, Diane Hernandez, told the court that Erik received A+ grades in all of his classes during his most recent semester in college.

Anamaria Baralt, another cousin of the brothers, told the court they had repeatedly expressed remorse for their actions.

“We all, on both sides of the family, believe that 35 years is enough. They are universally forgiven by our family,” she said.

The defence also called a former judge and a former fellow inmate to the witness stand to testify that the brothers were not only rehabilitated, but also helped others. Prosecutors cross-examined the witnesses but didn’t call any of their own.

Former judge Jonathan Colby, who said he considered himself tough on crime, told the court that spending time with the brothers and witnessing their growth made him believe in rehabilitation.

Anerae Brown, who previously served time in prison alongside the brothers, cried as he testified about how they helped him heal and eventually be released through parole.

“I have children now,” he said. “Without Lyle and Erik I might still be sitting in there doing stupid things.”

The judge said he was particularly moved by a letter from a prison official who supported resentencing, something the official had never done for any incarcerated person in his 25-year career.

Los Angeles County prosecutors argued against the resentencing, saying the brothers have not taken complete responsibility for the crime.

The current DA Mr Hochman said he believed the brothers were not ready for resentencing because “they have not come clean” about their crimes.

His office has also said it does not believe they were sexually abused.

“Our position is not ‘no’. It’s not ‘never’. It’s ‘not yet’,” Mr Hochman said. “They have not fully accepted responsibility for all their criminal conduct.”

What happens now?

The reduced sentencing has made the brothers immediately eligible for parole, but they must still appear before a state parole board, which will decide whether or not to release them from prison.

While this decision is made, the brothers will remain behind bars.

Their first hearing must take place no later than six months from their eligibility date, according to board policy.

If they are denied at their first parole hearing, the brothers will continue to receive subsequent hearings until they are granted release.

But the brothers have another potential avenue to freedom, having appealed to California governor Gavin Newsom for clemency before they were resentenced.

Mr Newsom has the power to free them himself through clemency, and in February, he ordered the state parole board to investigate whether the brothers would pose a risk to the public.

They already have a hearing before the board scheduled for 13 June, but that one was set as part of the clemency petition.

It’s not yet clear if that hearing will serve as their formal parole hearing or if a separate one will be scheduled.

Mr Newsom can override any decision the board makes.

Anne Bremner, a trial lawyer in Seattle, said the brothers will be preparing for the parole board and aiming to impress upon them that they should be let out, but suggested the board members will already have a clear view.

“My guess is the parole board has been watching this and of course they’ve done these risk assessments already,” she said, adding they will know “who these two are, what their alleged crimes were and what they’ve done since the time that they were incarcerated until today.”

Potential new evidence

The brothers’ lawyers have also submitted a letter Erik wrote to his cousin as new evidence, saying it was not seen by the jury when the brothers were sentenced in 1996 and could have influenced their decision.

The letter is dated months before the murders, which they say alludes to him being abused by his father, Jose Menendez.

In the handwritten letter, Erik wrote: “I’ve been trying to avoid dad… every night, I stay up thinking he might come in.”

He also said he was “afraid” and that he needed to “put it out of my mind” and “stop thinking about it”.

More new evidence submitted comes from Roy Rossello, a former member of the band Menudo, who alleges he was sexually assaulted by Jose Menendez as a teenager in the 1980s.

He has provided a signed declaration of his alleged rape by Jose Menendez to the brothers’ lawyers, which the lawyers say is further proof of his supposed abusive nature.

LA prosecutors filed a motion opposing the petition, but its status is unclear, and appears to have been halted while the brothers have pursued their resentencing and clemency.

What happened in the original Menendez trials?

On 20 August 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, multiple times at close range.

The brothers, who were 21 and 18 at the time, initially told police they found them dead when they got home, but were eventually tried for their murder.

During the original trial, prosecutors accused the brothers of killing their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance, although their defence team argued they acted out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse by their father.

An initial attempt to try each brother individually in front of separate juries ended in a mistrial after both juries failed to reach a verdict.

In their second trial, which saw the brothers tried together, the defence claimed the brothers committed the murders in self-defence after many years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their father, with no protection from their mother.

They said they had feared for their lives after threatening to expose their father.

The prosecution argued the murders were motivated by greed, and they killed their parents to avoid disinheritance.

Evidence of alleged abuse from their defence case was largely excluded from the joint trial by the judge.

In 1996, seven years after the killings, a jury found the brothers guilty, and they were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder.

They were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

But the brothers and many of their family members have continued to fight for their freedom ever since.

Although their focus of late has shifted towards the brothers’ rehabilitation in prison, their main argument in recent years has been that more evidence of Jose Menendez’s alleged abuse has come out since the last trial, and that a modern jury would have a better understanding of the impact of abuse than one 30 years ago.

US

Meet the ‘moral migrants’ relocating from the West to Russia in search of sanctuary

Published

4 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Meet the 'moral migrants' relocating from the West to Russia in search of sanctuary

Imagine moving to a country you’ve never been to before, with a culture you have no knowledge of and with a language you’re unable to speak. You’re with your whole family, including three children. And your new home, not your old one, is at war with its neighbour.

Well, that’s exactly what the Hare family did, who relocated to Russia from the United States two years ago because they felt “persecuted”.

“We were noticing a great upsurge in LGBT-type policies coming into the government, especially the school system,” Leo Hare says.

“This is where we drew a line in the sand,” his wife Chantelle adds. “This is a complete demonic attack against the conservative Christian families.”

The devout Christians, who have three sons aged 17, 15 and 12, describe themselves as “moral migrants”.

I’m chatting to them at their apartment in Ivanovo, a city 150 miles from Moscow. It’s a big change from Texas, where the family lived on a farm and had their own shooting range.

But in a country where so-called “LGBT propaganda” is banned, they say they feel safer than before.

“There are laws that say: ‘no you can’t just run wild and have gay pride parades and dance in front of all the children’. You can’t do this. I like this,” Leo tells me.

The family was granted asylum last year in a ceremony that was covered on state TV. But as unusual as their story may sound, the Hares aren’t the only ones who have turned to Russia in search of sanctuary.

According to the latest figures from Russia’s interior ministry, 2,275 Westerners have applied for a new shared values visa, which was introduced by Vladimir Putin last August.

It’s aimed at those who think the West has become too woke.

Citizens from countries Russia considers unfriendly (which includes Britain, the US and most of the EU) are offered a three-year residency permit without meeting any language requirements or skills criteria.

On the ninth floor of a skyscraper in Moscow’s financial district, a group of adults are holding pens in their mouths and making strange noises.

We’re observing a Russian language class that’s been put on by an expat club to help its members integrate into the local society.

Among those with the bit between their teeth is British national Philip Port from Burnley, Lancashire.

He runs a visa agency for those going in the opposite direction – Russians to the UK – and has been coming to Russia on and off for 20 years. He says he applied for the shared values visa for both practical and ideological reasons.

“I love Russia,” he tells me unapologetically, describing it as “safe as houses”.

“There’s no crime, the streets are clean, it’s well-developed,” he adds.

His view of the UK is nowhere near as complimentary.

“I’m all for gay rights, don’t get me wrong, but I think when they’re teaching them to children in school – I’ve got a seven-year-old son, I don’t want him being influenced in that way.”

It’s unclear how many British nationals have migrated to Russia under the shared values visa, but Philip Hutchinson, whose company Moscow Connect helps Westerners apply for the pathway, says he receives between 50 and 80 inquiries a week from the UK.

“There’s a huge amount of people that are frustrated by the way the country’s got in,” he tells me. “Taxes keep going up and up and up. And we’re giving all this money to Ukraine.”

Mr Hutchinson stood as a candidate for the Conservative Party in last year’s local elections in Britain.

He moved to Moscow earlier this year after his Russian wife was unable to obtain a UK visa, bucking a trend that saw most Western expats flee Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

I ask him if the war bothers him or his clients.

“It doesn’t,” he answers without hesitation. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not getting involved in that. You know, I’m not here to deal with politics.”

But is politics at play here?

After arriving in Russia, many of the “ideological immigrants” post slick videos on social media about how wonderful their new life is.

One prominent American blogger called Derek Huffman, who moved to Russia with his family from Arizona, has even joined the Russian army to fight in Ukraine.

It’s the perfect PR for a country that markets itself as a beacon of conservative values, and as the antidote to moribund, Western liberalism. But Russia insists it’s not running a recruitment campaign.

“We don’t give any social security guarantee or any free housing,” says Maria Butina, the Russian lawmaker spearheading the shared values programme.

“People come on their own with their own money, own families, at their own expense.”

Not everyone’s had a positive experience, though. The Hares say they were scammed out of $50,000 (£38,200) by the family who initially put them up when they arrived in Russia.

And their two oldest sons have returned to America, because of problems finding a school. The family weren’t aware that children are required to speak Russian to be eligible for a state education.

So, do they regret moving here?

“Moving so fast? Probably,” Leo admits.

“At times though, your pathway in life takes you places you wouldn’t have willingly gone. But through God and providence, you’re meant to go through this.”

US

Donald Trump says he would ‘love to see’ Marjorie Taylor Greene return to politics

Published

4 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Donald Trump says he would 'love to see' Marjorie Taylor Greene return to politics

President Donald Trump says he would “love to see” one-time ally Marjorie Taylor Greene return to politics one day – as the fiery congresswoman reportedly considers a White House run in 2028.

The US leader said “it’s not going to be easy for her” to revive her political career in comments to Sky’s partner network NBC News.

But he added: “I’d love to see that.”

In the meantime, Mr Trump said “she’s got to take a little rest”.

Marjorie Taylor Greene – a one-time MAGA ally who has turned into a fierce critic of Mr Trump – unexpectedly announced on Saturday that she would be resigning from Congress.

In a video posted online, the Georgia representative said she did not want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for”.

Ms Greene’s resignation followed a falling-out with Mr Trump in recent months, as the congresswoman criticised him for his stance on files related to Jeffrey Epstein, along with foreign policy and health care.

Mr Trump branded her a “traitor” and “lunatic” and said he would endorse a challenger against her when she ran for re-election next year.

She said her last day would be 5 January 2026.

Meanwhile, Time magazine reports that Ms Greene has told allies that she is considering running for president in 2028.

US

Haunted by Trump deja vu, Ukraine and its allies are in a perilous moment

Published

4 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Haunted by Trump deja vu, Ukraine and its allies are in a perilous moment

There is a profound sense of deja vu surrounding the Ukraine crisis right now.

It was only a few months ago that European leaders rushed to Washington after Donald Trump appeared to align with Vladimir Putin at their Alaska Summit.

The Europeans gathered in Washington in August and appeared convinced that they had pulled Trump back around to their mindset: that unity and strength, not capitulation, is the answer for Ukraine.

Well, this week it is possible (some sources say probable) that European leaders will again head to Washington for another attempt to pull Trump back.

Ukraine live: Trump suggests peace plan ‘not final offer’

Ukraine and its allies head to Geneva

The meeting in Geneva on Sunday is absolutely pivotal.

It was billed initially as a meeting between the Americans and the Ukrainians.

But it has since morphed into a wider meeting with a number of European countries sending senior officials.

The core meeting is still expected to be between US envoy Steve Witkoff and the Ukrainians, but sideline talks will now take place with a much wider group of nations.

Many European leaders have spoken to President Trump on Friday and Saturday and plan to do so again.

I am told Keir Starmer’s conversation with him was “good, short but productive.”

Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, will be in Geneva.

Over the last nine months, he has emerged as an important British influence on the Trump administration. He is close to Witkoff – who co-wrote or at least signed off on the 28-point plan.

However, the Powell-Witkoff relationship is clearly not close enough to have afforded the UK a heads-up on this latest peace plan.

‘Sudden injection’

One source told me that the “sudden injection” by the Americans had “been surprising.”

The American decision to put a rocket under the quest for peace in Ukraine appeared to have vice president JD Vance’s fingerprints on it.

The territorial elements of the peace plan are almost identical to a proposal put forward by Vance in the summer of 2024 before Trump won the election.

Vance’s stance on Ukraine has always leant towards questioning the point of it all. He led the attacks of Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office in February.

The US secretary of the army, Dan Driscoll, who has taken a lead in the conversions with Ukrainian officials, is a friend and ally of Vance – the two were at Yale together.

Vance has also been leading calls for his own administration to spend more time on “the home front”.

This sudden momentum on Ukraine could be an attempt to draw a line under it quickly in order to focus attention domestically.

The week ahead

So – things to look out for now: first, the Geneva meeting on Sunday – this is pivotal and will set the tone and the agenda for the days ahead. It is day-by-day at the moment.

Out of the Geneva meeting, a meeting of the European “coalition of the willing” countries will convene.

And following that, a contingent of European leaders heading to Washington seems likely – perhaps on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, America begins to wind down for the biggest holiday of the year – Thanksgiving.

Trump’s deadline for an agreement by Thanksgiving still feels improbable, but it’s not impossible that some sort of memorandum of understanding could be signed by then.