Officials in California rejected Erik Menendez’s bid for parole Thursday, saying after an all-day hearing that the convicted killer should not be released from prison.
Menendez, 54, will be able to seek parole again in three years.
“I believe in redemption or I wouldn’t be doing this job," California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner Robert Barton said after nearly 10 hours of proceedings. "But based on the legal standards, we find that you continue to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.”
The stunning decision came three months after a Los Angeles judge found that Menendez and his brother, Lyle, do not pose an “unreasonable risk” and resentenced them to 50 years to life for the 1989 shotgun murder of their parents — a ruling that effectively canceled their previous prison terms of life without the possibility of parole and made them eligible for parole “suitability” hearings immediately.
Lyle, 57, is set to appear before the parole board Friday.
In a statement Thursday night, relatives of the brothers said they respect the panel's decision but were disappointed with it.
"But our belief in Erik remains unwavering and we know he will take the Board’s recommendation in stride," the family said. "His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he is able to return home soon."
Explaining Thursday’s denial, Barton said that while the board places great weight on “youth offender factors” — Erik was 18 at the time of the killings — Erik's continued willingness to commit crimes at the time of the killings and his violations of prison rules weighed against him.
He cited Erik's efforts to cover up the murders and his illegal cellphone use behind bars.
Erik appeared at the hearing by videolink from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, the San Diego County prison where he is incarcerated.
In testimony before the panel, he described himself at the time of the killings as dishonest, angry and impulsive and having been raised with no moral foundation. He described his father, José, as "the most terrifying human being I'd ever met" and said he feared being raped by him the night of the killings.
"All I knew was I had to get to that den," he said, referring to the room in his family's Beverly Hills home where he and his brother fatally shot their father and mother, Kitty Menendez. "Fear was driving me to that den.”
Asked why he did not rescue his mother, whom Erik also described as his father's victim, he said: "Step by step, my mom had shown she was united with my dad."
During their two trials in the 1990s, the brothers claimed they killed their parents in self-defense after years of abuse at their father's hands.
Prosecutors have long disputed the brother's self-defense claim and pointed to the grim specifics of the killings — Lyle reloaded his shotgun before he shot his mother in the face, for example — and said the killings were ruthless and financially motivated.
Barton described Kitty Menendez's murder as "devoid of human compassion" and asked Erik whether he believed "any part" of the killings were done in self-defense.
Erik responded in the negative.
The brothers' case was catapulted back into the spotlight last year after a pair of streaming series and advocacy from some high-profile figures and relatives. The effort to secure their release has highlighted the sometimes complicated debate over rehabilitation versus incarceration.
Many family members have been outspoken advocates for the brothers’ freedom. After their resentencing hearing in May, a cousin, Anamaria Baralt, attributed the judge’s decision to the brothers’ growth behind bars and the “purpose of service” that she said they exhibited.
Among other things, the brothers have attended college, established a “beautification” project at the San Diego prison where they are incarcerated and helped inmates with severe disabilities, court filings show.
Baralt said she expected the parole process to be difficult on the brothers’ family but added: “We will eagerly step through those doors if that means getting them home.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has had different views on the brothers’ push for freedom. Weeks before his ouster last year, the county’s former top prosecutor, George Gascón, said the siblings had been “exceptional” inmates and recommended that they be resentenced.
His successor, Nathan Hochman, tried — and failed — to withdraw that recommendation. He said the siblings had not taken responsibility for more than a dozen lies he said they told about the murders, including the claim that they killed their parents in self-defense.
“The Menendez brothers have never fully accepted responsibility for the horrific murders of their parents, instead continuing to promote a false narrative of self-defense that was rejected by the jury decades ago," Hochman said in a statement ahead of the hearings.
"We have consistently opposed their release at this time because they have not demonstrated full insight into their crimes or shown that they have been fully rehabilitated, and therefore continue to pose a risk to society," he said.
After the decision Thursday, Hochman appeared to refer to the renewed public interest in the case.
“Importantly, the Board did not bow to public spectacle or pressure, a restraint that upholds the dignity and integrity of the justice system,” Hochman said in a statement.
The brothers are still pursuing their freedom through two other avenues — a clemency application with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and a petition that seeks to overturn their convictions. Both efforts are ongoing.
