Parole board says Lyle Menendez should remain in prison with his brother Erik

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lyle Menendez received the same recommendation as his brother Erik when he was denied parole Friday after serving decades in prison for the murder of their parents in 1989.

A panel of two commissioners denied Menendez parole for three years, after which he will be eligible again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public.

The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion almost exactly 36 years ago on Aug. 20, 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.

A judge reduced their sentences in May, and they became immediately eligible for parole. The parole hearings marked the closest they have come to winning freedom since their convictions almost 30 years ago.

---

quote:

---

Erik Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, was denied parole Thursday after commissioners determined his misbehavior in prison made him still a risk to public safety.

---

quote:

---

A day later, Lyle Menendez told the parole board details about the abuse he suffered under his parents. He cried, face reddened, while delivering his closing statement. He seemed to still want to protect his “baby brother,” telling commissioners he took sole responsibility for the murders.

---

quote:

---

The panel began by asking how abuse impacted decision-making in his life.

The older brother described how his father physically abused him by choking, punching and hurting him using a belt.

“I was the special son in my family. My brother was the castaway,” he said. “The physical abuse was focused on me because I was more important to him, I felt.”

He also said his mother also sexually abused him. He appeared uncomfortable discussing this with the panel, who asked why he didn’t disclose his mother’s abuse in a risk assessment conducted earlier this year.

Commissioners asked if one death made him more sorrowful than the other.

“My mother. Because I loved her and couldn’t imagine harming her in any way,” he said. “I think also I learned a lot after about her life, her childhood, reflecting on how much fear maybe she felt.”

Later, he broke down in tears when recounting how they confronted their mother about Jose Menendez’s abuse of his younger brother.

“I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that she knew,” he said.

---