Lyle Menendez, arrested for 35 years with his brother Erik for the murders of his parents with rifles in 1989 at his home in Beverly Hills, had his parole denied on Friday, a day after the same decision was delivered against his younger brother.
The decision was announced by California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Controlling Agency of the State Codeon Freedom Hearings, at the end of a session of more than 11 hours.
Conditional freedom commissioners designated for the case that there were still evidence that 57 -year -old Lyle Menendez would pose a risk to the public if he was released from custody, according to the audience of the news vehicles, including Reuters, through a media group reporter.
Unique opportunity
Legacy Card: Far beyond a service
Menendez, dressed in a blue prison uniform, appeared in a video of a San Diego penitentiary, where he is imprisoned.
His younger brother Erik Menendez, 54, had his parole freedom denied after a similar 10-hour session on Thursday. Both can request parole again within three years.
The crime
The brothers were convicted of first -degree homicide in a trial three decades ago that attracted intense attention from the national media.
Continues after advertising
They admitted to shooting parents, José and Kitty Menendez on August 20, 1989, with 12 -caliber rifles, while the couple watched television in the living room of their home. But the brothers claim that they acted in self -defense, fearing for their lives after years of sexual abuse committed by his father, a rich executive of the entertainment industry, and emotional abuse suffered by his mother. The brothers were 21 and 18 years old at the time.
Prosecutors argued that the murders were coldly calculated and motivated by greed, that is, by the desire of the brothers to inherit the multimillionaire fortune of their parents.
Explaining the reasoning behind Friday’s decision, Conditional Freedom Commissioner Julie Garland said that the “insensitive” nature of the murders, as well as Lyle Menendez’s efforts to cover up his role in crime later, remained factors in denial.
Continues after advertising
In an emotional final statement before the advice of the board, Menendez said he was “deeply sorry who I was … for the evil that everyone suffered.”
Although his remorse expressions seemed genuine, “you fight against antisocial personality traits, such as mistake, minimization and breaking rules, which hide behind this positive surface,” Garland told Menendez at the end of the audience.
The commissioners concentrated much of their attention during the session in the repeated use of cell phones smuggled by both brothers, violating the rules of prison.
Continues after advertising
“Incarcerated people who break rules” are more likely to break the rules of society, “said Garland.
Several close relatives spoke on behalf of the brothers during the hearings in support of their liberation in favor of family recovery.
The two have been arrested since March 1990 and were originally convicted in July 1996 to two consecutive penalties of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Continues after advertising
In May of this year, their sentences were reduced to 50 years in life imprisonment, according to the status of youthful offenders of California, which applies to defendants who were under 26 when they committed a crime, making them eligible for parole after serving half the sentence.
The case again gained notoriety after the release of the series “Brothers Menendez: Parent Killers” at Netflix in 2022.
