Timeline of the Menendez brothers’ murder case
FILE - Kitty Menendez's sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, bottom left, and niece Karen VanderMolen, right, sit together during a press conference to announce developments on the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Damian Dovarganes]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors in Los Angeles are set to announce their decision on whether to call for resentencing Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of killing their parents in 1989 and are serving life without the possibility of parole.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has said there’s no doubt the brothers killed their parents in Beverly Hills, and the pair admitted to the murders. But the brothers have argued that they committed the crimes in self-defense after years of abuse by their father.
Gascón said reexamining the case was appropriate given a renewed understanding of and empathy for sexual abuse victims.
The brothers were convicted and sentenced in 1996.
The case has been back in the headlines following a docuseries and a true-crime drama released by Netflix.
Here’s a look at the timeline of the case:
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August 1989: Jose Menendez, an executive at RCA Records in Los Angeles, and his wife Kitty Menendez, are shot and killed in their Beverly Hills mansion.
March 1990: Lyle Menendez, then 21, is arrested. Eighteen-year-old Erik Menendez turns himself in a few days later. They are accused of 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.
January 1994: Both juries deadlock.
October 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.
May 2023: Attorneys for the Menendez brothers ask the court to reconsider the conviction and sentence 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 about his father’s abuse prior to the killings.
September 2024: Netflix releases the crime drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, ” a nine-episode series about the killings.
Oct. 4, 2024: Gascón says his office is reviewing new evidence in the case.
Oct. 16, 2024: 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, 2024. Prosecutors schedule a news conference to announce their decision on whether to recommend resentencing.
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