A California judge finds new allegations of abuse do not outweigh the premeditation shown in the 1989 murders.
A California judge has extinguished one of the final hopes for Erik and Lyle Menendez, ruling that new evidence supporting their long-held claims of sexual abuse is insufficient to warrant a new trial.
In a decisive 16-page ruling, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan found that a letter from Erik and allegations from a Menudo star, while corroborative of abuse, did not negate the brothers’ “premeditation and deliberation” in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents.
This legal setback arrives just weeks after both brothers were denied parole for three years, with commissioners citing ongoing concerns about their anti-social traits and prison misconduct, including contraband cellphone use.
The ruling effectively shuts down the habeas corpus petition filed in 2023, a path legal experts considered a long shot.
With this avenue closed, the brothers’ fate now rests almost entirely on a plea for clemency from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has indicated he will make a decision by Labor Day.
