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File image of Lyle and Erik Menendez Nick Ut/AP

Re-sentencing hearing for Menendez brothers delayed due to Los Angeles fires

A growing campaign to free the brothers – given new life by a hit Netflix series – has opened the door to a reduced sentence.

A RE-SENTENCING HEARING for Lyle and Erik Menendez over the bloody murder of their wealthy parents has been delayed as Los Angeles grapples with devastating wildfires.

The pair were jailed for life after a blockbuster trial in the 1990s which detailed the gruesome slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez at the family’s luxury Beverly Hills mansion.

But a growing campaign to free the brothers – given new life by a hit Netflix series – has opened the door to a reduced sentence, with Los Angeles officials seemingly receptive to their lawyer’s overtures.

A 30-31 January hearing was postponed yesterday until 20-21 March, the office of District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.

Local media cited Hochman saying agreement had been reached between prosecutors and defence because of the impact the fires would have on the “extensive preparations” required.

Los Angeles is staggering under the weight of a sprawling disaster that has killed at least 27 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes.

Around 40,000 acres have been burned and thousands of buildings lie in ruins.

At the time of their conviction, prosecutors said the brothers had plotted to murder their parents in a bid to hasten a $14 million inheritance.

Supporters insist the 1989 killings were an act of desperate self-defence by young men subjected to years of sexual abuse and psychological violence at the hands of an abusive father and a complicit mother.

The Menendez brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother Kitty Menendez.

Lyle, now 57, and Erik, now 54, have spent more than three decades behind bars.

menendez Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez have been behind bars for 34 years (California Dept. of Corrections (California Dept. of Corrections

The brothers’ extended family have also pleaded for their release, saying they deserve to be free after decades behind bars.

Several family members have said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.

A previous court hearing – at which the men were due to appear by videolink from prison – was a blockbuster event in its own right, with a lottery system in place for spots in the public gallery.

© AFP 2025 

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