Lyle and Erik Menendez, former Princeton and Hopewell Township residents, who were convicted of killing their parents in the family’s California home decades ago, may be resentenced and possibly released from prison, according to published reports.
The Menendez family lived on West Shore Drive in the Elm Ridge Park development in Hopewell Township and in a home on Mountain Avenue in what is now the Mountain Lakes Preserve in Princeton before moving to California in the 1980s, according to www.communitynews.org.
A California jury convicted the Menendez brothers in 1996 on murder charges for killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, as they sat watching television in their Beverly Hills, Calif., home in 1989.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were each tried for murder by separate juries in 1993, but a mistrial was declared because the juries deadlocked. They were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole, following a second trial in 1996, the New York Times reported.
But on Oct. 25, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon petitioned the court to resentence the brothers, which may lead to the possibility of parole, according to the New York Times.
Gascon said the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole should be removed. They should be sentenced for murder, which carries a sentence of 50 years to life in prison.
Because the murders were committed when they were under 26 years old, they would be eligible for parole immediately under California law, Gascon said. Lyle Menendez was 21 years old and Erik Menendez was 18 years old.
A decision on the resentencing would be made by a judge, and the parole board must also approve, Gascon said. It is not known how soon such a decision would be reached. If the parole board approves, California Gov. Gavin Newsom could deny it.
The Menendez brothers used shotguns to kill their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills home in August 1989. They were arrested in March 1990, following an investigation into the crime.
Prosecutors in the 1993 trial said they killed their parents for financial gain, but defense attorneys claimed they killed their parents after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father. The family’s assets totaled $14 million at the time of the murders.
Prosecutors bolstered their theory by pointing to the brothers’ spending spree in the months between the murders and their arrests. The purchases included a Porsche sports car and several Rolex wristwatches. Lyle Menendez purchased Chuck’s Spring Street Cafe restaurant in Princeton.
Defense attorneys argued that they had been sexually abused by their father. Their mother, Kitty Menendez, knew about it but did nothing. The sons had confronted their parents about the abuse, and were afraid their parents would kill them to prevent the abuse from being made public.
The Menendez brothers were tried again in October 1995. This time, there was a single jury and evidence about the alleged sexual abuse was excluded. They were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in March 1996.
In 2023, new evidence that supports the brothers’ claims of sexual abuse was discovered and presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
The newly uncovered evidence includes a letter written by Erik Menendez to a cousin that describes the sexual abuse months before the murders, according to the New York Times.
Also, there are allegations that Jose Menendez had sexually abused Roy Rossello, who was 14 years old and a member of the boy band Menudo. Menendez was a music executive with RCA Records.
In recommending the resentencing, Gascon, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said in a press release that since the Menendez brothers were convicted more than 30 years ago, his office has gained a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual abuse.
Gascon said the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office’s Resentencing Unit conducted a review and confirmation of the evidence presented by the defense attorneys. It included reviewing materials, drafting court filings, meeting with Menendez family members, and evaluating the brothers’ rehabilitation and behavior while jailed.
