A parole panel in California decided on Thursday that Erik Menendez should not be released from prison, 36 years after he and his older brother, Lyle, killed their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in a sensational crime that later led to a long effort to win their release.
The presiding commissioner of the two-person panel, Robert Barton, told Erik Menendez, “Contrary to your supporters’ beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner,” citing a series of disciplinary violations in prison that included using drugs, being caught with a cellphone and taking part in a tax fraud scheme.
Lyle Menendez faces a parole panel on Friday.
Mr. Barton also concluded that Erik Menendez was not in “imminent fear” for his life before the murders, rebutting a claim that both he and his brother have made repeatedly. Mr. Barton’s comment suggests that Lyle Menendez may encounter difficulty in the Friday hearing.
The brothers, who were originally sentenced to life without parole for the 1989 killings, had been resentenced in May to life with the possibility of parole, setting the stage for this week’s parole hearings.
Erik Menendez, 54, can apply again for parole in three years, though he can petition to come before the board again in as soon as 18 months. His lawyers also have other options, including asking the full board of 21 parole commissioners to review the panel’s decision for “errors of fact.”
On Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik — then 21 and 18 — walked into the den of the family’s home and fired more than a dozen shotgun rounds at their parents, killing them both.
In recent years, Lyle, now 57, and Erik were thrust back into the media spotlight thanks to the revelation of new evidence, an army of social media defenders and a recent TV series and documentary examining the crime and their trials.
Here’s what else to know about the case.
What were the brothers convicted of?
In 1996, the Menendez brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing their parents, Jose, a music executive, and Mary Louise, a former beauty queen who went by Kitty.
It was their second trial. Two years earlier, a mistrial was declared after two separate juries (one for each brother) deadlocked over a verdict.
The trials proceeded quite differently.
In the first, defense lawyers claimed that the brothers had killed their parents after years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse by their father and that they feared for their lives. Their mother, they said, knew about the abuse but didn’t stop it.
Interviews with jurors after the mistrial revealed that some of them questioned how serious the abuse had been and to what extent it justified their actions.
In the second trial, which led to their convictions and in which the brothers were tried in front of a single jury, lawyers for the brothers were limited in what evidence could be presented.
The judge, Stanley M. Weisberg, prohibited their lawyers from using the “abuse excuse,” essentially leaving only two options for jurors: an acquittal or a murder conviction. They went with the latter.
New evidence emerged in recent years.
Last year, Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, publicly revealed in the Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” that Jose Menendez had sexually assaulted him at the Menendez family home in New Jersey when he was 14.
The journalist Robert Rand, who had written extensively about the brothers in his book “The Menendez Murders,” also brought forward a letter that Erik wrote when he was 17 to his cousin, detailing his father’s sexual abuse.
In a news conference in October, George Gascón, then the Los Angeles County district attorney, said he believed the brothers’ molestation claims.
Two Netflix projects brought renewed attention to the case.
The Menendez brothers were the subject of two high-profile releases on Netflix.
The first, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” an anthology series created by Ryan Murphy, premiered in September.
Weeks later, Netflix premiered “The Menendez Brothers,” a documentary by Alejandro Hartmann featuring exclusive interviews with Lyle and Erik Menendez.
Mr. Gascón previously said that the documentary had “brought a tremendous amount of public attention” and requests for information to his office.
Over the past several years, the Menendez brothers have also been backed by a legion of fans on social media who have examined the case in hindsight and expressed sympathy amid the brothers’ claims of sexual assault.
Their resentencing was opposed by prosecutors.
The May 13 decision by Judge Michael V. Jesic of Los Angeles Superior Court to reduce the brothers’ sentences for the 1989 killings made them eligible for parole.
The current Los Angeles County district attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who was elected on promises to take a harder line on crime, opposed the resentencing. He has argued that the brothers had not demonstrated that they had “full insight” into their crimes. His office also argued on Thursday against granting Erik Menendez parole.
The parole panel heard hours of testimony on Thursday, including from many family members.
Erik Menendez faced hours of questioning from the parole board members about the crime and about his rehabilitation efforts.
The brothers took different paths to demonstrating their rehabilitation. Erik Menendez has worked more directly to assist fellow prisoners, while Lyle Menendez has been engaged more with prison administrators.
More than a dozen of the brothers’ family members made statements at the hearing as next of kin of the victims. Victims’ family members typically oppose parole. But this time, all who spoke supported early release.
“For more than 35 years, they have shown sustained growth,” family members said in a statement in advance of the hearings. “They’ve taken full accountability. They express sincere remorse to our family to this day, and have built a meaningful life defined by purpose and service.”
But Mr. Barton, the parole commissioner, questioned whether Erik Menendez had been giving his family false information about his prison behavior.
Reporting was contributed by Kate Christobek, Christine Hauser, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Hank Sanders.
Tim Arango is a correspondent covering national news. He is based in Los Angeles.
Matt Stevens is a Times reporter who writes about arts and culture from Los Angeles.
Andy Newman writes about New Yorkers facing difficult situations, including homelessness, poverty and mental illness. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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