Menendez brothers feel 'hope' for parole after decades in jail
For the first time in decades, Lyle and Erik Menendez say they are beginning to feel hope they could get parole. It is a shift in mindset for the brothers, who have spent more than 30 years behind bars for the murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home.
"My brother and I are cautiously hopeful," Lyle Menendez, 57, said in a recent jailhouse interview with TMZ, which was aired on Fox.
"Hope for the future is really kind of a new thing for us. I think Erik would probably agree with that. It's not something we've spent a lot of time on," he added.
The Menendez brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life without parole for the 1989 shotgun killings of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez.
The case shocked the nation - not only for the brutal nature of the crime, but also for the courtroom drama that followed.
Their first trial ended in a hung jury after both brothers detailed years of sexual abuse they claimed to have suffered at the hands of their father, a high-powered music industry executive.
But prosecutors in the second trial cast doubt on those claims, arguing the brothers had acted out of greed and wanted to inherit their parents' wealth. The jury agreed, and the brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Over the decades, the brothers have kept up their appeals - and recently learned that they would get a parole hearing after all.
With that hearing scheduled for June, and a resentencing hearing in the middle of April, the brothers are reflecting on how they will lead their lives if freed.
"What it is that I want to do in terms of my day-to-day life is much of what I'm doing in here. I want to be an advocate for people that are suffering in silence," 54-year-old Erik Menendez told TMZ.
"Lyle and I aren't talking about leaving prison - should we be able to get out - and not looking back. Our lives will be spent working with the prison and doing the work that we're doing in here, out there," he added.
Part of the bid for parole hinges on a risk assessment that evaluates whether the brothers are still seen as threats to society.
The brothers say they have changed in prison.
"I'm striving to be a better person every day, and I want to be a person that my family can be proud of," said Erik Menendez. "Who I've evolved into, who I've seen Lyle evolve into. I'm beginning to like myself, be proud of myself, and find it's okay to like myself."
During their time in prison, both Erik and Lyle have started rehabilitation programs for disabled and elderly inmates and taught classes on trauma healing and meditation.
"Our best moments are the ones that are not spoken about, and we just help somebody, or we help an animal, or we make somebody smile that's feeling down that might have gone and harmed themselves if we weren't there," Erik said, speaking of their volunteer work in prison.
Despite the upcoming parole hearing, the brothers' future - and the other possible paths to freedom - remain uncertain.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman recently withdrew a motion for resentencing that had been filed under his predecessor, George Gascón, signalling a harder stance on the case.
Hochman has publicly said he will not support the brothers' release, though the final decision rests with a judge.
The move has stirred controversy with the DA's office as two former prosecutors who worked under Gascón and advocated for the brothers' resentencing, have filed a legal case against Hochman - accusing him of harassment, retaliation, and defamation.
The pair claim they were demoted because of their stance on the case - and have faced intense public scrutiny as a result. Mr Hochman's office is yet to comment.
Some members of the Menendez family have also criticized Mr Hochman, suggesting he is letting personal bias influence his actions. Mr Hochman denies this.
"Hochman doesn't seem to want to listen or engage with us," the brothers' cousin Tamara Goodell told US media. Ms Goodell accused the prosecutor of dismissing and ignoring the family, and "not acting like a neutral party".
But public opinion remains divided.
In the same TMZ special, Alan Abrahamson, a former Los Angeles Times reporter who covered the Menendez trials in the 1990s, said the brothers are "two of the most skilled and accomplished liars".
"The Menendezes are very capable of shapeshifting, and being who people who want them to be," Mr Abrahamson said. "And I think this is one of the grave dangers of this discussion that people don't seem to pick up on."
That is a thought shared by a former Beverly Hills detective who was assigned to investigate the murders at the time.
"This is the most heinous murder case I've had," Tom Linehan told TMZ. He believes the Menendez brothers were money-motivated killers who grew up getting exactly they wanted.
"If somebody is challenging what they want to do, they'd take them out if they had to," Linehan added.
As for the brothers, they have to hope the parole board sees things differently, so they will continue to fight their legal case.
"You never know how long you'll be blessed to be on the Earth, so we don't sit around waiting for something," Lyle said.