Erik Menendez was denied parole on Thursday after serving decades in prison for killing his parents. Lyle Menendez, his brother, will be next to get a chance to plead his case in front of a panel of California state parole board commissioners.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for killing their father, José Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. They were 18 and 21 at the time. Defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
A panel of California commissioners denied Erik Menendez parole for three years, after which he will be eligible again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public. A parole hearing for his brother Lyle Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, is scheduled for Friday morning.
The two commissioners determined that Erik Menendez should not be freed after an all-day hearing during which they questioned him about why he committed the crime and violated prison rules.
“Two things can be true. They can love and forgive you, and you can still be found unsuitable for parole,” commissioner Robert Barton said.
Barton said the primary reason for the decision was not the seriousness of the crime but Menendez’s behavior in prison.
For years they filed petitions for appeals that were denied. But they became eligible for parole after a Los Angeles judge reduced their sentences from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life in May, marking the closest they have come to freedom since their convictions.
Here’s a look at their case over the last three decades:
March 1990: Lyle Menendez, then 21, is arrested. A few days later, Erik Menendez, 18, turns himself in. They are charged with first-degree murder.
July 1993: The brothers go on trial, each with a separate jury. Prosecutors argue that they killed their parents for financial gain. The brothers’ attorneys do not dispute the pair killed their parents but argue that they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father.
January 1994: Both juries deadlock.
October 1995: The brothers’ retrial begins, this time with a single jury. Much of the defense evidence about alleged sexual abuse is excluded during the second trial.
March 1996: Jurors convict both brothers of first-degree murder.
July 1996: The brothers are sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
February 1998: A California appeals court upholds their conviction, and three months later, the state supreme court agrees.
October 1998: The brothers file habeas corpus petitions with the California supreme court. After they are denied the next year, they file petitions in federal district court, which are also denied.
September 2005: The US ninth circuit court of appeals denies their habeas corpus appeal.
3 May 2024: Attorneys for the Menendez brothers ask the court to reconsider the convictions and life sentences in light of new evidence from a former member of the boy band Menudo, who said he was raped by José Menendez when he was 14. In addition, they submit a letter that Erik wrote to his cousin before the killings about his father’s abuse.
19 September 2024: Netflix releases the crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, a nine-episode series about the killings.
4 October 2024: George Gascón, the Los Angeles county district attorney, says his office is reviewing new evidence in the case.
16 October 2024: Multiple generations of family members of the Menendez brothers hold a news conference pleading for their release from prison. The relatives say the jurors who sentenced them to life without parole in 1996 were part of a society that was not ready to hear that boys could be raped.
24 October 2024: Prosecutors say they will petition the court to resentence the brothers, and that it could lead to their release.
18 November 2024: The California governor, Gavin Newsom says he would not decide on granting the brothers clemency until after the newly elected district attorney has a chance to review the case.
25 November 2024: A Los Angeles county superior court judge holds a hearing regarding the request for resentencing but says he needs more time to make a decision, delaying the resentencing hearings.
3 December 2024: Nathan Hochman is sworn into office as the new district attorney of Los Angeles county.
21 February: Hochman says his office will oppose a new trial for the brothers. He casts doubt on the evidence of sexual abuse. The following week Newsom orders the state parole board to conduct a “comprehensive risk assessment” to determine whether the brothers have been rehabilitated and if they would pose a danger to the public if released.
10 March: Hochman says his office will not support resentencing because they brothers have repeatedly lied about why they killed their parents.
11 April: A judge denies prosecutors’ request to withdraw their resentencing petition. The following week, resentencing hearings scheduled are delayed due to disputes among prosecutors and the brothers’ lawyers, who say they will ask to remove Hochman’s office from the case.
9 May: Hochman’s office remains on the case as the judge again denies prosecutors’ request to withdraw their resentencing petition.
13 May: Los Angeles county superior court judge Michael Jesic reduces the brothers’ sentences to 50 years to life. They are immediately eligible for parole because they committed the crime under the age of 26.
21 August: Erik Menendez is denied parole by the California state parole board.
22 August: Lyle Menendez’s hearing is scheduled. Like his brother’s, it is to take place virtually.
