Just weeks before a high-profile parole hearing, one of the Menendez brothers has been hospitalized with what his lawyer calls a serious medical condition, NBC News reports. Few details have been officially revealed about the health of Erik Menendez, who alongside his brother Lyle was convicted of killing their parents in a high-profile case from the 1980s, but the California Department of Corrections says the 54-year-old was taken to a medical facility outside his San Diego prison on Friday, and is in fair condition. Sources tell TMZ he is being treated for kidney stones.
The timing comes just weeks before Erik and Lyle, 57, are set to attend a parole hearing scheduled for Aug. 20 and 21. The siblings, originally sentenced to life without parole for the shotgun murders of Kitty and José Menendez in 1989, were resentenced in May after a judge determined they did not pose an "unreasonable risk" to society. This decision made them eligible for parole. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has appeared open to the idea of clemency for the brothers, and their lawyer is asking Newsom to release Erik immediately due to his medical situation, he tells TMZ.
During the recent resentencing, Erik described the killings as "cruel and vicious," taking full responsibility. The Menendez brothers have long maintained the murders were a desperate act in response to alleged abuse by their father, a claim that factored into their widely watched trials in the 1990s. Prosecutors, however, painted a different picture, arguing the murders were motivated by financial gain. The renewed attention to their case follows recent documentaries and docuseries, which have sparked public debate and new calls for their release.
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