The Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, were convicted of murder in the first degree in 1996 for the brutal killing of their parents Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menendez.
The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Who are the Menendez brothers?
Lyle and Erik were convicted of murder in the first degree for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menendez.
Their father Jose, was an executive at LIVE Entertainment at the time of his death.
On the evening of August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik entered the den of their house, where their parents were seated on a couch, each with 12-gague shotguns.
Jose was shot in the back of the head, and Kitty was shot in the leg while running toward the hallway.
Kitty slipped on her own blood and fell, which is when she was shot several times in the arm, chest and face, leaving her unrecognizable.
Jose and Kitty were also shot in the kneecaps in an attempt to make the murders appear connected to organized crime.
The brothers were eventually arrested in 1990 in connection to the murders.
They were first tried separately, with one jury for each brother – however both juries deadlocked – resulting in a mistrial.
For the second trial, they were tried together by a single jury, which found them guilty, and were each handed life sentences.
During the trial, the brothers alleged that they committed the murders in response to years of sexual and emotional abuse they suffered at the hands of their parents, particularly their father.
How old were the Menendez brothers in 1989?
At the time of the crime Lyle was 21-years-old, while Erik was 18-years-old.
In the months after the murders, the brothers began to spend money lavishly, adding to suspicions that they were somehow involved in the murders of their parents.
Lyle bought a Rolex watch, a Porsche Carrera, and Chuck's Spring Street Café, a Buffalo wing restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey.
On the other hand, Erik hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of tournaments in Israel.
They also drove around Los Angeles in their deceased mother's Mercedes-Benz SL convertible, dined expensively and went on overseas trips to the Caribbean and London.
It is estimated that the brothers spent somewhere around $700,000 during the period between the murders and their arrests.
Where are the Menendez brothers incarcerated?
At the time of their imprisonment, the California Department of Corrections separated the brothers and sent them to different prisons.
They remained in separate prisons until February 2018 when Lyle was moved from Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California to the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County.
The brothers were hosed separately until April 2018, when Lyle was moved to the same housing until as Erik.
They were reunited for the first time since they began serving their sentences nearly 22 years earlier.
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