\n<\/p>\n
\n\tErik Menendez was denied parole Thursday after serving decades in prison for\u00a0murdering his parents\u00a0with his older brother in 1989.<\/p>\n
\n\tA panel of California commissioners denied Menendez parole for three years, after which he will be eligible again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public. A parole hearing for his brother Lyle Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, is scheduled for Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe two commissioners determined that Menendez should not be freed after an all-day hearing during which they questioned him about why he committed the crime and violated prison rules.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe brothers became eligible for parole after a judge\u00a0reduced their sentences\u00a0in May from life without parole to 50 years to life.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe parole hearings marked the closest they\u2019ve been to winning freedom from prison since their convictions almost 30 years ago for\u00a0murdering their parents.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996\u00a0for fatally shooting\u00a0their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. While defense attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.<\/p>\n
\n\tA judge\u00a0reduced their sentences\u00a0in May, and they became immediately eligible for parole.<\/p>\n
\n\tErik Menendez made his case to two parole commissioners, offering his most detailed account in years of how he was raised, why he made the choices he did, and how he transformed in prison. He noted the hearing fell almost exactly 36 years after he killed his parents \u2014 on Aug. 20, 1989.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cToday is August 21st. Today is the day that all of my victims learned my parents were dead. So today is the anniversary of their trauma journey,\u201d he said, referring to his family members.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe state corrections department chose a single reporter to watch the videoconference and share details with the rest of the press.<\/p>\n
\n\tMenendez, gray-haired and spectacled, sat in front of a computer screen wearing a blue T-shirt over a white long-sleeve shirt in a photo shared by officials.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe panel of commissioners scrutinized every rules violation and fight on his lengthy prison record, including allegations that he worked with a prison gang, bought drugs, used cellphones and helped with a tax scam.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe told commissioners that since he had no hope of ever getting out then, he prioritized protecting himself over following the rules. Then last fall, L.A. prosecutors\u00a0asked a judge to resentence him\u00a0and his brother \u2014 opening the door to parole.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIn November of 2024, now the consequences mattered,\u201d Menendez said. \u201cNow the consequences meant I was destroying my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tA particular sticking point for the commissioners was his use of cellphones.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat I got in terms of the phone and my connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone,\u201d Menendez said.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe board also brought up his earliest encounters with the law, when he committed two burglaries in high school.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was not raised with a moral foundation,\u201d he said. \u201cI was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal in the sense, an abstract way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe panel asked about details like why he used a fake ID to purchase the guns he and Lyle Menendez used to kill their parents, who acted first and why they killed their mother if their father was the main abuser.<\/p>\n
\n\tCommissioner Robert Barton asked: \u201cYou do see that there were other choices at that point?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen I look back at the person I was then and what I believed about the world and my parents, running away was inconceivable,\u201d Menendez said. \u201cRunning away meant death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tErik Menendez\u2019s parole attorney, Heidi Rummel, emphasized 2013 as the turning point for her client.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe found his faith. He became accountable to his higher power. He found sobriety and made a promise to his mother on her birthday,\u201d Rummel said. \u201cHas he been perfect since 2013? No. But he has been remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCommissioner Rachel Stern also applauded him for starting a group to take care of older and disabled inmates.<\/p>\n
\n\tSince the brothers reunited, they have been \u201cserious accountability partners\u201d for each other. At the same time, he said he\u2019s become better at setting boundaries with Lyle Menendez, and they tend to do different programming.<\/p>\n
\n\tMore than a dozen of their relatives, who have advocated for the brothers\u2019 release for months, delivered emotional statements at Thursday\u2019s hearing via videoconference.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSeeing my crimes through my family\u2019s eyes has been a huge part of my evolution and my growth,\u201d Menendez said. \u201cJust seeing the pain and the suffering. Understanding the magnitude of what I\u2019ve done, the generational impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHis aunt Teresita Menendez-Baralt, who is Jose Menendez\u2019s sister, said she has fully forgiven him. She noted that she is dying from Stage 4 cancer and wishes to welcome him into her home.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cErik carries himself with kindness, integrity and strength that comes from patience and grace,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne relative promised to the parole board that she would house him in Colorado, where he can spend time with his family and enjoying nature.<\/p>\n
\n\tL.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said ahead of the parole hearings that he opposes parole for the brothers because of their lack of insight, comparing them to\u00a0Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom denied him parole in January 2022 because of his \u201cdeficient insight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the hearing, L.A. prosecutor Habib Balian asked Menendez about his and his brothers\u2019 attempts to ask witnesses to lie in court on their behalf, and if the brothers staged the killings as a mafia hit. Commissioners largely dismissed the questions, saying they were not retrying the case.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn closing statements, Balian questioned whether Menendez was \u201ctruly reformed\u201d or saying what commissioners wanted to hear.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen one continues to diminish their responsibility for a crime and continues to make the same false excuses that they\u2019ve made for 30-plus years, one is still that same dangerous person that they were when they shotgunned their parents,\u201d Balian said.<\/p>\n
\n\tLyle Menendez is set to appear over videoconference Friday for his parole hearing from the same prison in San Diego.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe case has captured the attention of true crime enthusiasts for decades and spawned documentaries, television specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story <\/em>and a documentary released in 2024 have been credited for bringing new attention to the brothers.<\/p>\n \n\tGreater recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has also helped mobilize support for their release. Some supporters have flown to Los Angeles to hold rallies and attend court hearings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Erik Menendez was denied parole Thursday after serving decades in prison for\u00a0murdering his parents\u00a0with his older brother in 1989. A panel of California commissioners denied Menendez parole for three years, after which he will be eligible again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public. A parole hearing for his brother Lyle Menendez, who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[10285,10283,10284,10286],"class_list":{"0":"post-17117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-denied","9":"tag-erik","10":"tag-menendez","11":"tag-parole"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}