This week, Erik and Lyle Menendez went before a California judge to seek parole, almost 30 years after being convicted of killing their parents.
After an initial trial resulted in a mistrial, the brothers were convicted in 1996 for the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. While prosecutors argued they killed their parents for money, the brothers claimed self-defense after suffering years of sexual abuse by their father, which they alleged their mother knew about but chose to ignore. Initially, they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, but they became eligible in May due to a California law that provides parole hearings for people who commit certain crimes before the age of 26.
A parole board heard Erik’s case on Thursday, followed by Lyle’s on Friday — and while both had strong support from family members and even public figures like Kim Kardashian, both cases were ultimately denied.
In Erik’s case, Parole Commissioner Robert Barton said he was “not a model prisoner,” citing more than 12 prison infractions, including cellphone possession, alcohol and drug use, and involvement in a tax-fraud scheme. Erik reportedly said that he was living in “tremendous fear” of prison at the time, per LAist, but Barton stated, “(That) doesn’t change the fact that you knew what you were doing and you knew why you were doing it.”
Meanwhile, Lyle faced a similar outcome for “rule-breaking” and other misbehavior. Parole Commissioner Julie Garland stated that while he has “been a model inmate” in “many ways,” Lyle still has “anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule breaking that lie beneath that positive surface.”
Both brothers won’t be eligible for parole again until 2028; however, as CNN notes, it takes 120 days for the decision to become final. From there, it’ll be reviewed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can choose to either uphold it or reverse the decision.
That’s not the only way they might be able to get released, either. NPR reports that they also have a pending habeas petition to get a new trial due to new evidence that wasn’t presented at trial.
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