Menendez Brothers Given Life Sentences

Seven years after they shotgunned their parents to death in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion, Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.

Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg gave each brother two consecutive life terms, saying they carefully weighed the decision to kill.

Weisberg had no choice but life without parole. The only other punishment for murder is execution, which the judge could not impose because the jury recommended against it.

Erik, 26, and Lyle, 28, showed no reaction, and in the hushed courtroom their relatives and friends remained silent. But in the hall later, family members burst into tears.

Prosecutor David Conn said he was pleased with the sentences. He said the consecutive terms - the judge had the option of imposing concurrent sentences - served as a symbolic statement against the horrors of the killings.

Entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were slain in 1989.

At the brothers’ first trial, twin juries deadlocked on murder charges after the defendants contended they killed out of fear caused by years of sexual and psychological abuse by their domineering father.

At the brothers’ second trial, Weisberg severely limited the evidence and witnesses. Prosecutors ridiculed the abuse defense, calling the brothers spoiled rich kids intent on inheriting the family’s $14 million fortune.

In April, the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder. The jury recommended life without the possibility of parole.

The brothers have asked to be sent to the same prison. J.P. Tremblay, assistant secretary of the state Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, said no decision has been made.

Weisberg took no action on Lyle Menendez’s request to be married to fiancee Anna Eriksson, who attended the sentencing.

On Monday, one judge said she would marry the pair, but the presiding judge of the court vetoed the plan, saying he objected to having a defendant married at taxpayer expense.

Further complicating the wedding plans, the Sheriff’s Department said jail rules require Weisberg, as the sentencing judge, to perform such a marriage. But Menendez did not want Weisberg to officiate.