California judge denies Menendez brothers' petition for new trial

"LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California judge has rejected a request for a new trial for Erik and Lyle Menendez, shutting down another possible path to freedom for the brothers who have served decades in prison for killing their parents in 1989 at their Beverly Hills mansion. The ruling Monday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan comes just weeks after the brothers were denied parole."

"The judge wrote that the new evidence that "slightly corroborates" the allegations that the brothers were sexually abused does not negate the fact that the pair acted with "premeditation and deliberation" when they carried out the killings. "The evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror or supportive of an imperfect self-defense instruction," the judge wrote."

"A panel of two commissioners on Aug. 22 denied Lyle Menendez parole for three years after a daylong hearing. Commissioners noted the older brother still displayed "anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface." Erik Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, was similarly denied parole a day earlier after commissioners determined that his misbehavior in prison made him still a risk to public safety."

A Los Angeles judge denied a May 2023 petition seeking review of Erik and Lyle Menendez's 1996 convictions, finding newly presented evidence insufficient. The judge said evidence that 'slightly corroborates' claims of sexual abuse did not negate premeditation and deliberation in the killings. The judge wrote the alleged evidence would not have produced reasonable doubt for a juror or supported an imperfect self-defense instruction. Both brothers were recently denied parole after commissioners cited ongoing risk factors and misbehavior. The brothers were sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 fatal shootings of their parents in a Beverly Hills mansion.

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