Menendez brothers denied new trial in murder of parents

Lyle and Erik Menendez have lost their bid for a new trial. Photo / Getty Images

Lyle and Erik Menendez, who have spent more than three decades behind bars for murdering their parents with shotguns at the family’s Beverly Hills mansion, have lost their bid for a new trial.

A Los Angeles judge’s ruling late Monday is the latest blow to the Menendez brothers’ high-profile campaign for freedom, after they were each denied parole last month.

The pair, whose plight was famously dramatised in a recent hit Netflix series, had argued that recently uncovered evidence surrounding alleged sexual abuse at the hands of their father warranted a new trial.

But the judge found the fresh evidence did not add to “the allegations of abuse that the jury already considered, yet found that the brothers planned, then executed that plan, to kill their abusive father and complicit mother”.

Nor would it have led to the original murder trial ruling the brothers had acted in self-defence, because the new evidence does not “demonstrate the brothers experienced a fear of imminent peril”, ruled Judge William C. Ryan, according to a court-issued memorandum.

The brothers shot Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989, in what prosecutors in the ensuing trial said was a cynical attempt to get their hands on a large family fortune.

The Menendez brothers claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.

The new evidence included a letter allegedly written by Erik to his cousin detailing abuse, and allegations of abuse by Jose Menendez against another man.

Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54, can appeal Monday’s ruling.

Having had their original sentences of life without the possibility of parole reduced to 50-year terms in May, they will be eligible to apply for parole again in three years.

Their only other chance of sooner release is if California Governor Gavin Newsom grants them clemency.

-Agence France-Presse