Erik Menendez was denied parole Thursday after serving a long time in jail for murdering his dad and mom along with his older brother in 1989.
A panel of California commissioners denied Menendez parole for 3 years, after which he shall be eligible once more, in a case that continues to fascinate the general public. A parole listening to for his brother Lyle Menendez, who’s being held on the identical jail in San Diego, is scheduled for Friday morning.
The 2 commissioners decided that Menendez shouldn’t be freed after an all-day listening to throughout which they questioned him about why he dedicated the crime and violated jail guidelines.
The brothers turned eligible for parole after a decide decreased their sentences in Could from life with out parole to 50 years to life.
The parole hearings marked the closest they’ve been to profitable freedom from jail since their convictions nearly 30 years in the past for murdering their dad and mom.
The brothers had been sentenced to life in jail in 1996 for fatally taking pictures their father, Jose Menendez, and mom, Kitty Menendez, of their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. Whereas protection attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors mentioned the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
A decide decreased their sentences in Could, they usually turned instantly eligible for parole.
Erik Menendez made his case to 2 parole commissioners, providing his most detailed account in years of how he was raised, why he made the alternatives he did, and the way he remodeled in jail. He famous the listening to fell nearly precisely 36 years after he killed his dad and mom — on Aug. 20, 1989.
“Immediately is August twenty first. Immediately is the day that each one of my victims realized my dad and mom had been lifeless. So at present is the anniversary of their trauma journey,” he mentioned, referring to his members of the family.
The state corrections division selected a single reporter to look at the videoconference and share particulars with the remainder of the press.
Erik Menendez’s jail document
Menendez, gray-haired and spectacled, sat in entrance of a pc display sporting a blue T-shirt over a white long-sleeve shirt in a photograph shared by officers.
The panel of commissioners scrutinized each guidelines violation and combat on his prolonged jail document, together with allegations that he labored with a jail gang, purchased medicine, used cellphones and helped with a tax rip-off.
He advised commissioners that since he had no hope of ever getting out then, he prioritized defending himself over following the foundations. Then final fall, L.A. prosecutors requested a decide to resentence him and his brother — opening the door to parole.
“In November of 2024, now the implications mattered,” Menendez mentioned. “Now the implications meant I used to be destroying my life.”
A specific sticking level for the commissioners was his use of cellphones.
“What I acquired by way of the cellphone and my reference to the skin world was far larger than the implications of me getting caught with the cellphone,” Menendez mentioned.
The board additionally introduced up his earliest encounters with the regulation, when he dedicated two burglaries in highschool.
“I used to be not raised with an ethical basis,” he mentioned. “I used to be raised to lie, to cheat, to steal within the sense, an summary method.”
The panel requested about particulars like why he used a pretend ID to buy the weapons he and Lyle Menendez used to kill their dad and mom, who acted first and why they killed their mom if their father was the primary abuser.
Commissioner Robert Barton requested: “You do see that there have been different selections at that time?”
“Once I look again on the particular person I used to be then and what I believed in regards to the world and my dad and mom, working away was inconceivable,” Menendez mentioned. “Operating away meant loss of life.”
His transformation behind bars
Erik Menendez’s parole legal professional, Heidi Rummel, emphasised 2013 because the turning level for her shopper.
“He discovered his religion. He turned accountable to his greater energy. He discovered sobriety and made a promise to his mom on her birthday,” Rummel mentioned. “Has he been excellent since 2013? No. However he has been outstanding.”
Commissioner Rachel Stern additionally applauded him for beginning a bunch to care for older and disabled inmates.
Because the brothers reunited, they’ve been “critical accountability companions” for one another. On the identical time, he mentioned he’s develop into higher at setting boundaries with Lyle Menendez, they usually are inclined to do totally different programming.
Greater than a dozen of their kinfolk, who’ve advocated for the brothers’ launch for months, delivered emotional statements at Thursday’s listening to by way of videoconference.
“Seeing my crimes by means of my household’s eyes has been an enormous a part of my evolution and my development,” Menendez mentioned. “Simply seeing the ache and the struggling. Understanding the magnitude of what I’ve completed, the generational impression.”
His aunt Teresita Menendez-Baralt, who’s Jose Menendez’s sister, mentioned she has totally forgiven him. She famous that she is dying from Stage 4 most cancers and desires to welcome him into her house.
“Erik carries himself with kindness, integrity and power that comes from endurance and beauty,” she mentioned.
One relative promised to the parole board that she would home him in Colorado, the place he can spend time along with his household and having fun with nature.
The board disregarded prosecutor’s questions
L.A. County District Lawyer Nathan Hochman mentioned forward of the parole hearings that he opposes parole for the brothers due to their lack of perception, evaluating them to Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom denied him parole in January 2022 due to his “poor perception.”
Through the listening to, L.A. prosecutor Habib Balian requested Menendez about his and his brothers’ makes an attempt to ask witnesses to lie in courtroom on their behalf, and if the brothers staged the killings as a mafia hit. Commissioners largely dismissed the questions, saying they weren’t retrying the case.
In closing statements, Balian questioned whether or not Menendez was “actually reformed” or saying what commissioners wished to listen to.
“When one continues to decrease their duty for a criminal offense and continues to make the identical false excuses that they’ve made for 30-plus years, one continues to be that very same harmful individual that they had been after they shotgunned their dad and mom,” Balian mentioned.
What occurs subsequent
Lyle Menendez is ready to look over videoconference Friday for his parole listening to from the identical jail in San Diego.
The case has captured the eye of true crime lovers for many years and spawned documentaries, tv specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and a documentary launched in 2024 have been credited for bringing new consideration to the brothers.
Better recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has additionally helped mobilize help for his or her launch. Some supporters have flown to Los Angeles to carry rallies and attend courtroom hearings.