A Timeline of the Menendez Brothers’ Case
by Associated Press · TIMEBy Associated Press
October 24, 2024 10:00 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors in Los Angeles say they will ask a court Friday to resentence 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 and now Gascón
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.
Read More: The True Story Behind Ryan Murphy’s Menendez Brothers Series
Here’s a look at the timeline of the case:
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.
Read More: The Story Behind the Therapist Who Played a Key Role in the Menendez Brothers’ Case
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.
Read More: How Ryan Murphy’s Menendez Brothers Show Has Reignited a Decades-Long Controversy
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 say they will petition the court to resentence the brothers, and that it could lead to their release.