Here are highlights of the history of the Menendez 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.
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.
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. 25, 2024: Gascón petitions the court to resentence the brothers, which could lead to their release.
How soon would a release of the Menendez brothers happen?
Related links
LA DA seeks resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez in 1989 killings of their parents
Timing of DA Gascón’s decision on Menendez case raises questions for some
Family of Erik and Lyle Menendez call for their release and say they’re victims who were vilified
DA’s office is reviewing the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents in 1989
Attorneys for Menendez brothers cite new evidence in seeking to overturn convictions