Featured Image Credit: California Department of Corrections
Topics: Menendez Brothers, Real Life, News, US News, Crime, True Crime
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Menendez Brothers, Real Life, News, US News, Crime, True Crime
A shock twist in the case of convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez was announced by Los Angeles prosecutors last night (13 May) amid the brothers' bid for resentencing - after which they issued an emotional statement.
For those unfamiliar with their crimes, the pair were jailed in 1996 for their grisly shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and José Menendez, at their Beverly Hills mansion seven years prior.
Despite initially getting away with the double-homicide and going on to extravagantly spend their hefty inheritance, investigating police officers eventually pinned the murders on Lyle and Erik, who were just 21 and 18 at the time.
It was only during the subsequently televised trial that another series of heartbreaking claims came to light.
Advert
Whilst on the stand, the brothers opened up on the alleged physical, sexual, and verbal abuse they'd endured since childhood at the hands of their 'perfectionist' father Jose.
Though many jurors and spectators sided with Lyle and Erik, a second trial caused by an initial hung jury saw their abuse allegations discounted, and the pair were handed life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The brothers' case somewhat revived following the release of Ryan Murphy's true-crime Netflix drama Monsters last year, which saw Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch portraying the brothers in the gut-wrenching drama recreation.
Though Lyle and Erik branded the series 'inaccurate', it was also around this time that two new pieces of evidence supporting the brothers' abuse claims.
The first piece of evidence was a claim made by musician Roy Rossello, who alleged to being drugged and raped by Jose Menendez at their Los Angeles property when he was just 14.
The second was a letter that Erik had written to his cousin eight months before he and Lyle killed their parents, documenting the sexual abuse his father had subjected him to, which had been discovered by Jose's sister Marta Cano at the time.
Los Angeles prosecutors eventually agreed to a resentencing hearing, which focused on if the brothers had been rehabilitated in prison.
After being delayed several times, news broke last night from Lyle and Erik's trial that the pair have now been resentenced to 50 years to life for killing their parents.
The ruling was made by Los Angeles' Judge Michael Jesic, who declared that the brothers would now be eligible for parole.
In court, the Menendez brothers spoke out in court, demonstrating their remorse by reflecting on their grisly crime.
Erik, now 54, told the court: "I fired all five rounds at my parents and went back to reload.
"I lied to police. I lied to my family. I'm truly sorry.
.jpg)
"I had to stop being selfish and immature to really understand what my parents went through in those last moments."
The elder of the brothers also described the 'shock, confusion and betrayal' that his parents must have felt the night of their deaths, seeing guns being pointed at them by their own children.
Lyle's statement was similarly unnerving. He began by admitting: "I committed an atrocious act against two people who had the right to live, my mom and dad.
"Today, 35 years later, I am deeply ashamed of who I was."
Lyle went on to apologise for the 'unfathomable' impact that their crimes have undoubtedly had on their family.
"I lied to you and forced you into a spotlight of public humiliation," he added.
The brothers said they hoped to work with victims of sexual abuse if they were to be released from prison.