Erik Menendez remains in fair condition Tuesday after he was transported from prison to a hospital about a month before a high-stakes parole hearing, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
In a statement, the department did not include details about the health issue, but said Erik Menendez, 54, was transported last week from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego to the hospital
“Erik Menendez was transported to an outside medical facility on July 18,” the department said in a statement to NBCLA. “While medical privacy laws restrict us from providing more details, he remains there in fair condition.”
Family members confirmed to NBC News that Menendez was hospitalized with a “serious medical condition.”
TMZ, citing sources with direct knowledge, reported that he is at a hospital nearby the prison and being treated for kidney stones.
Although painful, prompt treatment for kidney stones usually helps prevent lasting damage. Stones often form when urine has less water content and minerals form crystals that stick together. Treatment may only require pain medication and drinking water to help pass the stones through the urinary tract. Surgery and other treatments might be needed in some cases, depending on the size, location and type of stone.
Attorney Mark Geragos told TMZ he is requesting Erik Menendez’s immediate release from prison due to the health condition.
“He is being treated, right now,” Geragos told TMZ. “I’m calling the governor. He’s done this in the past in the Covid and post-Covid era. I would ask that he furlough Erik in advance of the (parole) hearing.”
Erik and brother Lyle were convicted in the shotgun murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at the family’s Beverly Hills home in 1989.
The show creator had lunch with Newsom before the show came out, saying he’s making a series about the Menendez brothers.
In May, a judge reduced the brothers’ life sentences without parole to 50 years to life in response to a resentencing petition, making them eligible for parole. They will appear before the state parole board in August.
Defense attorneys have argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors claim the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
In another recent development, a judge earlier this month ordered Los Angeles prosecutors to explain why the murder convictions should not be re-examined in light of new evidence supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father. The July 7 order by LA County Superior Court Judge William Ryan was in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by the Menendez brothers in May 2023 seeking a review of their 1996 convictions for the killings of their parents based on new evidence.
The brothers’ first trials resulted in hung juries. At the second trial, the judge excluded a substantial amount of evidence, including testimony from several family members who witnessed or heard about the abuse.
The case for resentencing gained traction late last year when Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor George Gascón said he would support the move. Gascón was defeated in the November election by Nathan Hochman, who has opposed resentencing.