Erik Menendez, the younger of the notorious brothers who were jailed for murdering their parents in Los Angeles in 1989, has been denied parole.
He made his first appeal for release from jail on Thursday, months after a judge reduced both his and his brother Lyle’s sentences, making them eligible for parole.
The brothers, aged 57 and 54, had received life sentences without the chance of parole in 1996 after being convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home.
The case was thrust back into the spotlight last year when Netflix released a documentary and miniseries.
A panel of two California commissioners determined Erik Menendez should not be freed following an all-day hearing, where they heard about his behaviour in prison.
While relatives of Menendez advocated for his release, commissioner Robert Barton said: “Two things can be true. They can love and forgive you, and you can still be found unsuitable for parole.”
‘I was destroying my life’
Mr Barton added the primary reason for denying him release was due to his conduct behind bars: Menendez is alleged to have worked with a prison gang, bought drugs, used mobile phones and helped with a tax scam while in jail.
During the hearing, Menendez said he had no hope of being released until Los Angeles prosecutors asked a judge to resentence him and his brother last November, and had focused on protecting himself.
“In November of 2024, now the consequences mattered,” he added. “Now the consequences meant I was destroying my life.”
He also noted that the day of the hearing was almost exactly 36 years after he killed his parents, describing it as the “anniversary” of a “trauma journey”.
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During the hearing, Los Angeles prosecutor Habib Balian questioned whether Menendez was “truly reformed”, or saying what commissioners wanted to hear.
“When one continues to diminish their responsibility for a crime and continues to make the same false excuses that they’ve made for 30-plus years, one is still that same dangerous person that they were when they shotgunned their parents,” he said.
Thursday’s verdict means he will next be eligible for parole in three years. Lyle Menendez will appear by video conference for his parole hearing on Friday.
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The brothers are also waiting for the outcome of a 2023 request for a judge to consider evidence that their father had sexually abused them.
Prosecutors during both the 1993 and 1995 trials argued that the brothers killed their parents for financial gain.
The brothers’ attorneys never denied that the pair killed their parents, but argued that they acted out of self-defence after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father.
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