Thirty-six years after he and his brother, Erik Menendez, had been convicted of killing their mother and father, Jose and Kitty, Lyle Menendez was denied parole by a panel of California commissioners.
On Friday, August 22, a California parole board delivered the choice following a digital listening to that includes statements from Menendez, kinfolk and the Los Angeles District Lawyer’s Workplace, CNN reported.
“We discover your regret is real. In some ways, you appear like you’ve been a mannequin inmate,” Parole Commissioner Julie Garland mentioned. “You’ve gotten been a mannequin inmate in some ways who has demonstrated the potential for change. However regardless of all these outward positives, we see … you continue to wrestle with anti-social character traits like deception, minimization and rule breaking that lie beneath that optimistic floor.”
Though Mendendez’s bid for parole was denied, Garland instructed him, “don’t ever not have hope,” as the choice is “not the tip.”
She continued, “It’s a means so that you can spend a while to reveal, to follow what you preach about who you’re, who you need to be. Don’t be any individual totally different behind closed doorways.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom nonetheless has the facility to reverse parole choices, so Menendez may nonetheless stroll free. In three years, he could also be eligible for parole once more. Moreover, Menendez will likely be thought-about for “administrative assessment” inside one 12 months and could also be granted a second parole listening to in 18 months.
On Thursday, August 21, Lyle’s brother, Erik, was additionally denied parole by a California assessment board in his first look earlier than the board. In response to the board, the choice was based mostly on a number of components, together with his conduct in jail, the crimes he participated in earlier than the murders, and the homicide of his mom, Kitty. The board famous that he’s eligible for parole in three years.
“The killing of your mom particularly confirmed an absence of empathy and purpose,” Commissioner Robert Barton mentioned.
In response, Erik Menendez mentioned he shot his mom as a result of she had “betrayed him,” because the protection asserted that the Menendez brothers had been pushed to violence by years of bodily and sexual abuse at their father’s palms.
Nonetheless, Barton said that it was Erik Menendez’s conduct in jail that was the first purpose for the denial of his parole. “Opposite to your supporters’ beliefs, you haven’t been a mannequin prisoner, and admittedly, we discover that a little bit disturbing,” Barton mentioned.
In August 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez had been accused of brutally murdering their rich mother and father of their Beverly Hills dwelling. The brothers admitted to the killings, however claimed it was in response to years of abuse. Prosecutors argued that their motive was greed, motivated by their inheritance, and the brothers had been discovered responsible and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole.
In September 2024, Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan reignited public curiosity within the case by presenting the brothers as victims.
“Our view and what we needed to do was current you all of the info and have you ever do two issues: make up your individual thoughts about who’s harmless, who’s responsible, and who’s the monster, and now have a dialog about one thing that’s by no means talked about in our tradition, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly,” mentioned Murphy in an interview with E! Information.
As well as, Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers documentary allowed them to inform their very own story, exploring claims of trial bias and inspecting the abuse they mentioned they endured.
On account of these collection, public opinion started to shift, as viewers started seeing the brothers in a extra sympathetic gentle. In Could 2025, a choose resentenced the brothers to 50‑to‑life, making them eligible for parole, which many imagine was a direct end result of the renewed consideration and advocacy sparked by the Netflix productions.