By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-24 19:32:18 | Updated at 2024-11-24 21:23:28
1 hour ago
LA’s hottest celebrity killers will be back in court Monday, but tickets are hard to get.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court will hold a public lottery to determine who lands any of the 16 seats put aside for the general public for the hearing — where parent-killing siblings Erik and Lyle Menendez could be ordered set free.
A drawing for the open seats will be held Monday morning, just before the hearing in which a judge may deem the brothers eligible for parole after three decades behind bars for fatally shooting their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.
The brothers have been serving life sentences without parole for the slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez after a highly publicized trial that captivated the nation and made Lyle and Erik household names.
The A-list killers re-entered the limelight last year thanks to a Netflix documentary series about their case — and bombshell new evidence appearing to back the brothers’ claim that their father sexually abused them as kids.
The brothers’ lawyers are also pushing the court to downgrade their sentences from first-degree murder to manslaughter, a crime for which they have already served three times the maximum sentence.
The Menendez drama began in 1989, when Erik and Lyle — the sons of wealthy music executive José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez — bought shotguns and pumped multiple rounds into both parents as they watched TV in their Hollywood manse.
Before the brothers were charged in the heinous double slaying, they went on a spending spree with their $14 million inheritance. Their lavish purchases included luxury travel, a sports car, Rolex watches, two restaurants for Lyle and a full-time tennis coach for Erik.
In the courtroom, the pair admitted to the killings but claimed they were committed in self-defense for a lifetime of abuse, including sexual abuse by their father.
In October, Menendez fans gathered outside the courthouse to support family members calling for the brothers’ release.
The Menendez brothers’ lawyer, Mark Geragos, has also sought clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom with the aim of getting letting the pair walk free by Thanksgiving.
