Overview
- The California Board of Parole granted the change on Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, setting a tentative parole suitability hearing for March 2027 and moving the next review up by more than a year.
- A May 2025 resentencing to 50 years to life made Erik and Lyle Menendez eligible to seek parole after previously serving life without that possibility.
- The board denied parole in August 2025, citing in-prison rule violations including possession of illegal cellphones and a reported gang link for Erik, which remain central to suitability decisions.
- The brothers' family highlighted decades of prison programs they helped run, including a hospice program and a Green Space beautification project, and praised the board's decision as progress toward reunification.
- The March 2027 hearing will determine whether the board finds them suitable for release by weighing the 1989 murders, resentencing, and their conduct in custody, and an advanced date does not guarantee parole.