LOS ANGELES -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers convicted of murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left intact a 1998 state appellate court ruling upholding the convictions and life-without-parole sentences.

The brothers admitted fatally shooting Jose and Kitty Menendez in the home in August 1989 and were convicted of first-degree murder.

They said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent disclosure of the father's sexual molestation of Erik. Prosecutors contended there was no evidence of molestation and said the sons were after their parents' multimillion-dollar estate.

Jurors deadlocked at their first trial, in which separate juries heard the evidence against each defendant and the judge gave jurors the option of manslaughter convictions based on the sons' belief that they were in danger.

At the retrial, the same judge, Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg, did not allow a defense based on the danger belief. Among other issues on appeal, the San Francisco-based appellate panel ruled 3-0 that it was OK for Weisberg to change his rulings between trials and did not show bias against the defendants.

The defense of an honest but unreasonable belief of danger, known legally as imperfect self-defense, was properly barred because there was no evidence either brother was in imminent danger, the appeals court said.