Lyle and Erik Menendez have been in jail for more than 35 years. They were arrested in March 1990 for the 1989 shotgun killings of their parents in Beverly Hills and have been in continuous custody ever since. A May 2025 resentencing made them eligible for parole for the first time, but the parole board denied release in August 2025, and they remain incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
When the Clock Started
The killings happened on August 20, 1989, but the brothers were not immediately identified as suspects. Lyle, then 21, was taken into custody on March 8, 1990, outside the family’s Beverly Hills home. Erik, then 18, was competing in a tennis tournament in Israel; he flew back and surrendered on March 11, 1990.1County of Los Angeles. District Attorney Gascón Announces Decision in Resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez
A judge ordered them held without bail on first-degree murder charges with the special circumstance of lying in wait.2UPI Archives. One of Menendez Brothers Attempts Escape Because they were never released, every day from those March 1990 arrests has counted toward their time in custody.
How the 35+ Years Break Down
The total splits into two chapters. The first is county jail: after their arrests in March 1990, the brothers sat in the Los Angeles County jail system through a first trial that ended in mistrials for both juries in January 1994, a second trial that began in August 1995, guilty verdicts on March 20, 1996, and formal sentencing in July 1996. That was more than six years of pretrial and pre-sentencing detention.
The second chapter is state prison. After sentencing in July 1996, both brothers were sent into the California prison system, where they have now been held for roughly 29 years. Lyle spent over 20 years at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione before being transferred in 2018 to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where Erik was already housed.3NBC 7 San Diego. A Look Inside the San Diego Prison Where the Menendez Brothers Are Serving Time Both are still at Donovan.
The Sentence They Served For Most of That Time
At the July 1996 sentencing, each brother received life in prison without the possibility of parole under California Penal Code Section 190.2, which mandates that penalty when certain aggravating factors are proven.4California Legislative Information. California Code, Penal Code – PEN 190.2 For nearly three decades that sentence meant they were expected to die behind bars.
What Changed in May 2025
On May 13, 2025, a judge resentenced both brothers to life in prison with the possibility of parole, replacing the life-without-parole terms imposed in 1996. The resentencing made them immediately eligible for parole consideration. Part of the legal footing was California Penal Code Section 3051, which requires parole hearings for people who committed their crimes at age 25 or younger; both brothers were under 22 at the time of the killings.5California Legislative Information. California Code, Penal Code – PEN 3051
The change removed the guarantee that they would die in prison. It did not open the door on its own.
Parole Denied in August 2025
The California Board of Parole Hearings held back-to-back suitability hearings — Erik on August 21, 2025, and Lyle on August 22, 2025.6California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Board of Parole Hearings Media FAQs Both were denied. The board weighs the circumstances of the crime, prison behavior, rehabilitation, and continuing danger to the public, and for young-adult offenders it also considers what the statute calls “the diminished culpability of youth.”5California Legislative Information. California Code, Penal Code – PEN 3051 The board concluded the brothers were not yet suitable for release and set a three-year waiting period before either can appear again.
The Habeas Petition Was Also Denied
A separate route to freedom closed the following month. On September 17, 2025, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan denied a habeas corpus petition the brothers’ attorneys had filed in May 2023 based on what they described as newly discovered evidence, including a 1988 letter from Erik to a cousin describing sexual abuse by his father and a sworn declaration from former Menudo member Roy Rosselló making a similar allegation against Jose Menendez.7Los Angeles County District Attorney. Return to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus The court concluded that even taken together, the new evidence would not have created reasonable doubt in a single juror given the original findings of premeditation and lying in wait.8Los Angeles County District Attorney. DA Hochman Statement on Court Denial of Menendez Brothers Habeas Corpus Petition
When They Could Get Out
The three-year denial means the next parole hearings will come around 2028. A clemency request to Governor Gavin Newsom was outstanding at the time of the parole hearings and had not been answered. Until a parole board or the governor agrees to release them, the brothers stay where they are: at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, more than 35 years into their custody.