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Erik and Lyle Menendez’s long quest for freedom is going to have to wait. The brothers’ hearing with the California state parole board has been pushed back to late August, according to
their attorneys. A jury sentenced the Menendez brothers to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1989 for murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion. The case
gripped the nation in part because the brothers were only 18 and 21 at the time of the fatal shooting. Gov. Gavin Newsom withdrew his request for the parole board to evaluate the brothers
for clemency as they pursue their freedom after 35 years behind bars. The brothers had a clemency hearing scheduled for next month. That hearing was replaced with a parole suitability
hearing. EXPLORE MORE The governor’s office did not comment on the decision but did say that the clemency application was still considered active. The brother became immediately eligible for
parole after a Los Angeles judge last week delivered a new sentence of 50 years to life. Since they were sentenced under the age of 26 when they were convicted of murdering their parents,
California law allows them to be automatically eligible for parole. The Menendez brothers’ trial was a media sensation at the time and was televised live on Court TV, a novel network then in
its infancy. It was one of the first trials to be televised in real time gavel-to-gavel, transfixing the audience. In 2022, the Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
and a companion documentary renewed public interest in the Menendez brothers’ case leading to the flurry of recent legal activity around the brothers. Anamaria Baralt, Erik and Lyle’s
cousin, said that the new date was actually a boon. She posted a TikTok video saying that it would benefit the brothers, since many convicts are not granted parole at their first hearing.
“This is not a bad thing,” Baralt said in the video. “Most people prepare for parole for like a year … the more time that they can have to prepare, the better.” _With Post wires. _