The California Board of Parole Hearings has moved up the upcoming hearings for Erik and Lyle Menéndez, who could appear before this body in February 2027, more than a year earlier than their scheduled date, according to Telemundo.
According to that information, Lyle's hearing is tentatively set for February 23, 2027, while Erik's will take place the following day, February 24. Other sources like AP and USA Today place the appearances in March 2027, without a confirmed exact date. In any case, all dates are tentative.
Without this advance, the brothers would not have been able to request a new review until August 2028, when three years have passed since the denial they received in their initial hearings.
The Board approved the advance through an administrative review process under Proposition 9, also known as Marsy's Law, which was enacted in 2008. This law allows for the shortening of the intervals between hearings when "there is a change in circumstances or new information indicating that the person may be eligible for parole."
A key factor was that both brothers received a moderate risk assessment, which makes them eligible for this type of review one year after their hearing.
The family of the brothers reacted with gratitude to the decision. "We are incredibly proud of the men they have become and deeply thankful to the Parole Board for recognizing their efforts and allowing them to expedite their parole hearing," it stated in a statement released this week.
Erik, 55 years old, and Lyle, 58, are serving their sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Both were found guilty of murdering their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, in August 1989 at their mansion in Beverly Hills, and were sentenced in 1996 to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The turning point that opened the door to their eventual release came in May 2025, when a judge in Los Angeles resentenced them to 50 years to life in prison. The new sentence made them automatically eligible to apply for parole under California's juvenile offender law, as they were under 26 years old when the crimes occurred.
However, during their initial hearings before the Board—held on August 21 and 22, 2025— both received a three-year denial, the shortest denial period allowed under California law. Among the factors influencing this decision were disciplinary infractions in prison, such as the unauthorized use of cellphones and, in Erik's case, alleged ties to a prison gang, according to CNN en Español.
The case is one of the most high-profile legal proceedings in the history of the United States. The defense always maintained that the brothers acted after years of physical and psychological abuse by their father; the prosecution argued that the motive was the family inheritance, estimated at 13 million dollars. José Menéndez, the murdered father, was born in Havana in 1944 and emigrated to the United States as a teenager, following the rise of Fidel Castro to power.
Public interest in the case was rekindled in 2024 with the premiere of the Netflix series "Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez," which led to a review of the conviction by the Los Angeles district attorney's office resulting in the new sentencing in May 2025.
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