US Judge reduces Menendez brothers' sentence

A judge in California (southwest) has cleared the way for the Menendez brothers, famous in the United States for the murder of their parents in 1989, to be released on parole.

Judge Michael Jesic on Tuesday reduced the sentences of the two men, who were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 and have already served 35 years behind bars, to a range of 50 years in prison to life in prison.

The new sentence allows the two brothers to apply for parole, something that will be decided by a special committee on June 14.

Judge Jesic's decision came after a hearing in which the family of Erik and Lyle Menendez supported the request for release.

“We think 35 years is enough,” a cousin of the two, Anamaria Baralt, explained in court. “Our family has completely forgiven them. They deserve a second chance at life,” she added.

The case of the two brothers gained worldwide notoriety after a film and a Netflix documentary in 2024.

In 1990, the US Public Prosecutor's Office accused the two young men, then aged 18 and 21, of having shot their parents to death in order to inherit a fortune worth 14 million dollars (12.5 million euros).

The lawyers argued that the brothers had been raped for years by their father and that their mother knew about it, and that the murder was a desperate attempt at self-defense.

The judge's decision Tuesday came at the end of the first day of a two-day hearing that new Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman had tried to block for months.

Hochman believes the brothers continue to lie about their motives for committing the 1989 murders, in which they shot their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home.