LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lyle Menendez obtained the identical suggestion as his brother Erik when he was denied parole Friday after serving many years in jail for the murder of their parents in 1989.
A panel of two commissioners denied Menendez parole for 3 years, after which he will likely be eligible once more, in a case that continues to fascinate the general public.
The brothers have been sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally taking pictures their father, Jose Menendez, and mom, Kitty Menendez, of their Beverly Hills mansion virtually precisely 36 years in the past on Aug. 20, 1989. Whereas protection attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors stated the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
A decide reduced their sentences in Might, and so they grew to become instantly eligible for parole. The parole hearings marked the closest they’ve come to profitable freedom since their convictions virtually 30 years in the past.
Erik Menendez, who’s being held on the similar jail in San Diego, was denied parole Thursday after commissioners decided his misbehavior in jail made him nonetheless a threat to public security.
A day later, Lyle Menendez advised the parole board particulars in regards to the abuse he suffered underneath his dad and mom. He cried, face reddened, whereas delivering his closing assertion. He appeared to nonetheless wish to defend his “child brother,” telling commissioners he took sole accountability for the murders.
“I’ll by no means have the ability to make up for the hurt and grief I prompted everybody in my household,” he stated. “I’m so sorry to everybody, and I will likely be endlessly sorry.”
The state corrections division selected a single reporter to look at the videoconference and share particulars with the remainder of the press.
Lyle Menendez describes abuse
The panel started by asking how abuse impacted decision-making in his life.
The older brother described how his father bodily abused him by choking, punching and hurting him utilizing a belt.
“I used to be the particular son in my household. My brother was the castaway,” he stated. “The bodily abuse was centered on me as a result of I used to be extra necessary to him, I felt.”
He additionally stated his mom additionally sexually abused him. He appeared uncomfortable discussing this with the panel, who requested why he didn’t disclose his mom’s abuse in a threat evaluation performed earlier this 12 months.
Commissioners requested if one loss of life made him extra sorrowful than the opposite.
“My mom. As a result of I cherished her and couldn’t think about harming her in any means,” he stated. “I believe additionally I discovered loads after about her life, her childhood, reflecting on how a lot worry possibly she felt.”
Later, he broke down in tears when recounting how they confronted their mom about Jose Menendez’s abuse of his youthful brother.
“I couldn’t wrap my thoughts round the truth that she knew,” he stated.
Listening to focuses on crime, over achievements in jail
Lyle Menendez’s parole lawyer, Heidi Rummel, was extra outspoken through the listening to than the one for Erik Menendez on Thursday.
She quarreled with the commissioners over a number of traces of questioning and whether or not the panel had entry to trial proof within the case.
The panel requested Lyle Menendez whether or not the murders have been deliberate, and in regards to the brothers shopping for weapons.
“There was zero planning. There was no technique to comprehend it was going to occur Sunday,” he stated, referring to purchasing the weapons as “the most important mistake.”
“I now not consider that they have been going to kill us in that second,” he stated. “On the time, I had that trustworthy perception.”
Garland requested him in regards to the “sophistication of the net of lies and manipulation you demonstrated afterward,” referring to having witnesses lie for them in court docket — and makes an attempt to destroy his father’s will.
Menendez maintained that there was no plan, solely that he was “flailing in what was taking place” and didn’t wish to go to jail and be separated from his brother.
In closing, Rummel expressed frustration that the listening to spent virtually no time on Menendez’s achievements in jail or his efforts to construct constructive relationships with correctional workers. She famous he by no means touched medication or alcohol inside.
“How many individuals with an LWOP sentence are available entrance of this board with zero violence, regardless of getting attacked, getting bullied, and select to do one thing totally different?” she stated.
Greater than a dozen of their relations attended Friday’s listening to through videoconference, however many didn’t testify citing privateness issues after studying audio from Erik Menendez’s listening to Thursday was revealed on-line.
“I would like my nephew to listen to how a lot I really like him, and consider in him,” stated his aunt, Teresita Menendez-Baralt. :I’m very happy with him and I would like him to return dwelling.”
Cellphones in jail
Much like his brother’s listening to the day earlier than, the panel zeroed in on Menendez’s use of cellphones in jail as current as March 2025.
“I had satisfied myself that this wasn’t a implies that was harming anybody however myself in a rule violation,” Menendez stated.
He stated correctional workers have been monitoring his communications together with his spouse and household and promoting them to tabloids, so he noticed cellphones as a technique to defend his privateness. There was “quite a lot of stress in his marriage” across the time he transferred to the jail in San Diego, and he wished to remain in shut contact together with his spouse, he stated.
Commissioner Patrick Reardon applauded him for beginning a prison beautification venture and mentorship programs. Nevertheless, he questioned if the cellphone violations tainted these accomplishments.
“I’d by no means name myself a mannequin incarcerated individual,” Menendez stated. “I’d say that I’m individual, that I spent my time serving to folks. … I’m the man that officers will come to to resolve conflicts.”
The panel famous {that a} psychologist discovered that Menendez is at “very low” threat for violence upon launch.
In line with earlier court docket paperwork, Menendez has not gotten into any fights in his time in jail. He stated nonviolence was a promise he made to his grandmother.
“My life has been outlined by excessive violence,” he stated. “I wished to be outlined by one thing else.”
The brothers nonetheless have a pending habeas corpus petition filed in Might 2023 looking for a assessment of their convictions primarily based on new proof supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father.
