The Current - Menendez brothers are eligible for parole. Will they walk free?

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

After 35 years behind bars for murdering their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez will now have a chance at parole. Investigative journalist Robert Rand has covered this story since the 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, even uncovering new evidence along the way.

Other People's Problems was the first podcast to take you inside real-life therapy sessions. I'm Dr. Hilary McBride, and again, we're doing something new. The ketamine really broke down a lot of my barriers. This work has this sort of immediate transformational effect. Therapy Using Psychedelics is the new frontier in mental health. Come along for the trip. Other People's Problems Season 5, available now. This is a CBC Podcast.

Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. It was a media spectacle from the very start. The brutal murder of a Los Angeles businessman, Jose Menendez and his wife Kitty in their Beverly Hills home. Their two sons, Lyle and Eric, on trial accused of killing their parents for the $14 million inheritance. In 1996, the Menendez brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole. They admitted to killing their parents, but they said their father sexually abused them. They're having numerous documentaries and dramas about the brothers. They admitted to killing their parents, but said their father sexually abused them. They're having numerous documentaries and dramas about the brothers. And then this week, 35 years after their arrest, a Los Angeles judge reduced the sentence,

making Lyle and Eric Menendez eligible for parole. Anna Maria Beralt is their cousin. She was at the LA courthouse this week. These are tears of joy, for sure, and we're very excited. But ultimately we are here today with this result because of Eric and Lyle, because they chose to live their lives with clarity and a purpose of service that the judge was impressed by. And so a huge thanks to them too for being the kind of people that we could bring home. Robert Rand is an investigative journalist who has covered this story since the murders happen.

He's the author of the Menendez murders. He's in Los Angeles. Robert, good morning. Good morning from California. Yeah, when few people know this story as well as you do, Robert. So it's great to have you with this this morning. Take us into the courtroom if you could. What was it like during this resentencing when the judge made his decision? It was really a moment of relief for the family members of Eric Laminandis. They, over the past seven, eight months,

have worked so hard at being their advocates. When the judge made that ruling to re-sentence the brothers and reduce their sentence from life without parole to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole, and the family was really emotional, they were sobbing, The day ended with Eric and Louman and us reading their statements to the judge. And so that was the the capper to a day that was full of emotion and drama. Explain to us what did the judge say about why he changed their sentence. Judge Michael Jessic said that he was shocked at the crime that Eric and Lyle Menendez committed in 1989, but he said at the same time, he was shocked by the letters he received from

officials at R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, the prison where the brothers are housed near San Diego. And Eric and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life without parole, which really means you never get out in California. And yet they chose a path of redemption. They chose to be of service to their inmate community and I think that's What has really been a major factor that has led to them, you know reaching this point

But it's not over yet Right, but the prison is in theory. It's there to both punish and to rehabilitate. Why do you believe they should be released? So Eric allow me to end this, you know, they're not cartoon characters to me. I met them 35 and a half years ago when I spent three days with them, interviewing them for the Miami Herald. And I was doing a biography for the Sunday magazine of the Herald. And it was two months after the killing of their parents, five months before they were arrested, and they told me very loving, caring stories

about their family and which they described as a very close-knit family. And so they were 18 and 21 years old when I met them. Today they are 57 and 54. So I've seen a major change in them over the years. And you know, I think it's time. They have served 35 years incarcerated. And you know, I believe it's time for them to be released. We really have to look at the theory of prisons and are they places where we just want to lock people up that commit terrible crimes or are they places where people can be rehabilitated

and not be a danger to the public if they are let out. And it's interesting because their lawyer said that their conviction in the 90s was reflective of what he said, quote, a crazy collective lock them up and throw away the key mentality that we had, end quote. So I guess to some extent, this may be a sign of the times as well, this resentencing. But tell us about the impact that, you know, the publicity around this case, this publicity around the brothers themselves. Netflix had a, you know, had a series about this or documentaries about this. There were campaigns on TikTok

and other social media by younger people who felt that the brothers were mistreated in the 90s. What impact do you think that this has had on this resendencing? I believe the social media support for the brothers, which by the way is all over the world. More than half of the supporters live outside of the US. But in the fall of 2020, my son who was 14 at the time came to me one afternoon and he said, dad, TicSock is full of Menendez Brothers videos. And I laughed.

And then I went down the rabbit hole for the next three hours watching all these videos that people were making on their own and posting on TikTok. And so after being down the rabbit hole for a period of several months, I called a friend of mine, an editor at the New York Times, and I said, I think this is a story. You know, this movement is growing. It's not going anywhere. It's growing in size.

And what was fueling that movement in your opinion, especially the fact, as you mentioned, that this was an international campaign. Why do people care? I believe that young people have a totally different attitude about sexual abuse. And, you know, now it's 30 years later from when the brothers were first on trial. Society has evolved. Now there's the hashtag MeToo movement, hashtag MenToo movement, and these issues

are being talked about openly and at all levels of society. And when I interviewed all the jurors after the first trial, all the women had voted for manslaughter, all the men except one had voted for murder, and all the men told me for one, had voted for murder. And all the men told me, well, a father would never do that to his sons. And I think now we have a different attitude about that. And you, as you mentioned, you'd met the guys, you interviewed them, and you were open to this idea that this really was a case of sexual abuse. Some people thought it was just all about the money, but you had a different feeling on that. Why was that?

So I had the luxury of being a book author and being able to spend unlimited time with members of Jose Menendez and Kitty Menendez's families. And I was going on TV shows in the 90s and saying, I believe Eric and Lime Menendez, but that wasn't based solely on their testimony at the trials. I spent so much time talking to Jose's sister, Mark Cano, and Kitty's sister, Joan VanderMolen. And initially, you know, they were very guarded in what they said. And then as time went on, they started opening up and they knew something was very wrong in this family but they weren't sure what.

You uncovered some new evidence tell us about that. So we have two new pieces of evidence that are part of the case and in fact there's two paths to freedom that the brothers have right now. One is the resentencing, which obviously they were just resentenced, so that is going very well. There's a second path to freedom, which is called the habeas corpus petition that was filed the day after a documentary I was executive producer of, Menendez plus Menudo, Boys Betrayed. And that documentary revealed the nefarious connection between the Latin boy band Menudo

and Jose Menendez when he was head of RCA Records. And the primary character in our documentary was named Roy Rossello. And Roy said, told us that he had been raped by Jose Menendez when he was 14 years old. And so that's, you know, one major piece of new evidence. The other major piece of new evidence is a letter that I found at the home of Eric's cousin Andy Cano, the son of his sister Mark Cano. In late 1988, Eric wrote to him complaining about the ongoing sexual abuse by his father. That letter was never part of either trial. Nobody knew that letter existed, and I just left into it when I was spending time finishing my book

interviewing Mark Scano and she let me go through boxes of Andy's papers. Andy sadly passed away from an accidental sleeping pill overdose in 2003. But he was a key defense witness in the first trial and he testified that Eric Menendez told him about the abuse when he was 10 and Eric was 12 years old. As you mentioned earlier Robert, you know it's not over yet. The judge reduced their sentence to 50 years. Now they're eligible for parole. But what's the next step and how likely is it that they will actually be released? Well, just to cut to the chase, I believe they will eventually be released, but I'm

not sure when. It could be the end of this year. It could be next year. It could be two years from now. You know, Governor Gavin Newsom is really in charge of everything that's going on now. The next step for the brothers is to testify in front of the California parole board. And they will answer the question,

have Eric and Lyle Menendez been rehabilitated? And are they a danger to the public if they are released from prison? And I think they have definitely been rehabilitated. And I believe that they're no longer a danger to anybody. And I imagine you will continue to follow this case as you have been now for many, many decades. Robert, thank you for joining us this morning.

We appreciate your time. Mark, you're very welcome. This has been The Current Podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca slash The Current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening.