Menendez brothers updates: Erik and Lyle eligible for parole after being re-sentenced over 1989 murder

Erik and Lyle Menendez have been re-sentenced in a Los Angeles court, now making them eligible for parole.

Judge Michael Jesic re-sentenced the brothers to 50 years to life over the shotgun murder of their parents in August of 1989.

The re-sentencing to 50 years to life means that both Erik and Lyle Menendez are now eligible for parole, a step that may still take some weeks for the parole board to rule on.

“I’m not saying they should be released, it’s not for me to decide,” Judge Jesic told the court.

“I do believe they’ve done enough in the past 35 years, that they should get that chance.”

In his closing statements, Judge Jesic told the court he couldn’t “make a finding that they are an unreasonable risk,” giving the green light for the parole board to look at allowing the brothers back into the community.

The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home.

The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings. Defence lawyers argued the brothers acted out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

Since their conviction, the brothers have gotten an education, participated in self-help classes and started various support groups for their fellow inmates.

More to come...

- with AP