Where the Menendez brothers are now as pair who murdered parents could be one step closer to freedom

Some 35 years since the 'Trust Fund Brat' brothers - Lyle and Erik Menendez - shot their parents dead before going on a shopping spending spree, an attorney has recommended that they be resentenced.

The Menendez Brothers, who have spent 34 years behind bars for murdering their parents in cold blood, were told they have no chance of parole and would spend the rest of their lives behind bars. But as new evidence could be about to change all that, we take a look at what happened and where they are now.

It was August 20 and the brothers' father José - a successful record executive - was sitting in front of the television, eating a bowl of berries and cream. His wife Kitty was in the same room filling out Erik’s college application, when the two brothers burst in - shooting their dad six times and mum ten. When the emergency services arrived, the brothers claimed they had returned to their house in Beverly Hills to find their parents dead.

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In the following months, the brothers seemed less than grief-stricken - going on a shopping spree and splashing out on neighbouring apartments in Marina Del Rey, California, a restaurant in New Jersey, and expensive gifts including a Porsche and a Rolex. But the guilt must have been getting to Erik and the brothers were arrested when he confided in his psychiatrist in March 1990 that they had killed their parents.

Prosecutors argued the brothers were driven to murder by greed and a desire to inherit a multimillion-dollar fortune. While the brothers never denied killing their parents in court, their defence was that they feared their father would kill them, after they threatened to expose him for years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse.

But, after two trials, both brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. During the pandemic, the case reached a new audience thanks to viral TikTok videos and Kim Kardashian, who also became an advocate for the brothers. Then new evidence recently came to light which included a letter written by Erik before the killings that his attorneys say corroborates his account of sexual abuse.

There have also been allegations from a former member of the boy band Menudo that José Menéndez had sexually abused him. Now, after renewed interest in the case from the public and the media and new evidence which allegedly proves they were subject to years of abuse, a judge will have the final say as to whether they are released during a hearing next month.

George Gascón, the Los Angeles County district attorney, has recommended that the Menéndez brothers be resentenced for the 1989 killings of their parents, a step that is expected to lead to their release. He said: “After a very careful review of all the arguments made … I came to a place where I believe that, under the law, resentencing is appropriate and I’m going to recommend that to a court tomorrow. I do believe the brothers were subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home, and molestation. They have been in prison for nearly 35 years. I believe that they have paid their debt to society.”

Just last month, Lyle Menendez spoke out from prison after bombshell evidence seemed to shine a new light on the case. Lyle 58, said: “This was never a case about actual innocence. It's always been a case about why this tragedy occurred and how Erik and I can ever reach a place emotionally... and I know as an adult that sexual violence in a household creates a space in which otherwise nonviolent people can do the unthinkable.

“I think looking back 34 years now on the trials, Erik and I and our family thought we were going into a manslaughter case with a district attorney that understood the traumatic impact that sexual violence creates in a person. We ended up with the same sentence as a serial killer. And every day we watched people get parole and 34 years later, Erik and I are still watching.”

George Gascón, the Los Angeles county district attorney, said during a news conference on Thursday that the pair should be resentenced, and that life without the possibility of parole be removed, after the office reviewed new evidence in the case. They will be eligible for parole immediately because of their ages at the time of the murder, he said.

A judge will have the final say in a case at a hearing next month.

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