Lyle Menendez claimed Thursday that his mother Kitty had sexually abused him as a child—part of his last-ditch plea to be granted parole after spending three decades in prison for her murder.
His claims did not sway the parole board, who denied Menendez his request for freedom, determining that he, like his younger brother, Erik, was still a threat to the public more than 36 years after they gunned down their parents—Kitty and Jose Menendez—in the living room of their Beverly Hills home.
Among the reasons cited by the board was that Lyle showed he was “devoid of human compassion.”
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During their murder trial in 1993, the focus of the alleged abuse suffered by the Menendez brothers was on their father. Kitty Menendez was portrayed as being complicit because she failed to step in to stop the paternal abuse, but misconduct allegations leveled against her were not nearly as severe.
However, Lyle, who is now 57, said Thursday that he had undersold Kitty’s conduct because he was too young to understand that she, too, was sexually abusing him.
Upon a parole board member pointing out that the allegations against Kitty were not included in official documents that were part of his parole request, The New York Times reported that he “let out a long sigh.”
“I didn’t see it as abuse really,” he said of his reaction as a child. “I just saw it as something special between my mother and I. So I don’t like to talk about it that way.”
Lyle is now a decade older than his mom was at the time of her murder. He told the board that he now realizes that she was not only complicit in the brother’s abuse—she was also a perpetrator.
“Today, I see it as sexual abuse,” he said. “When I was 13, I felt like I was consenting, and my mother was dealing with a lot… It’s abusive, but I never saw it that way.”
Lyle also claimed that details about his mother’s abuse did not come out previously because he was not asked in previous interviews with doctors.
During his murder trial, however, he claimed that Kitty would wash him “everywhere,” even as a teen. He claimed that she also invited him into bed and would touch him “everywhere,” too.
“I took it to be love,” Lyle told the court back then, according to the Los Angeles Times. “She was enjoying it.”
Lyle said he did not feel the same way and told her to stop. This, he said during his trial, enraged his mother.
Pleas from Lyle, who was denied parole on Thursday, and Erik, who was denied parole the day before, were not enough to earn them freedom. They will continue serving their life sentences, but will be eligible to seek parole again in three years.
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