Erik Menendez denied parole, will have to remain in prison for parents’ murders

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KABC) — A California parole board decided to deny Erik Menendez parole, and he will have to remain in prison for the 1989 murders of his parents when he was 18 years old.

Menendez and his brother Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 during a retrial and sentenced to life in prison without parole. After a years-long battle, the Menendez brothers were resentenced to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole. Due to that resentencing, they became eligible for parole hearings under youth offender parole laws.

Erik Menendez’s parole hearing was on Thursday and lasted 10 hours. The hearing was virtual, and Erik Menendez participated from a computer at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Lyle Menendez’s parole hearing will be Friday.

The parole board said it’s a three-year denial, and Erik Menendez can then be eligible for parole again at that time.

“I believe in redemption or I wouldn’t be doing this job … but based on the legal standards, we find that you continue to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety,” Parole Commissioner Robert Barton said.

During the hearing on Thursday, Erik Menendez was questioned by the parole board, he gave a closing statement and then the victims’ relatives spoke to the board.

What did the parole board say about the parole denial?

The board said at issue were Menendez’s burglaries before the murders, the use of cellphones while in prison and the murder of his mother. These were all topics the board questioned Menendez about during the hearing.

“While we give great weight to youth offender factors, your continued willingness to commit crimes and violate prison rules,” weighed against Menendez, Barton said.

Barton said he found the execution of Kitty Menendez to show him at the time to have been “devoid of human compassion.”

“I can’t put myself in your place,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had rage to that level, ever. But that is still concerning, especially since it seems she was also a victim herself of the domestic violence.”

Barton said Erik could have “legally left” at the age of 18 and sought shelter with his relatives, adding that he should have or could have gone to the police.

“We recognize and understand that many sexual assault victims find it hard to come forward especially when the perpetrators are family members,” Barton said, but noted those victims don’t often kill their abusers in such horrific fashion.

Barton said Erik “was not in imminent fear” for his life and added that the spending spree after the murders gives weight to the argument there was a financial motive to the killings.

Barton said the seriousness of the crime is “not a primary reason for this denial. It’s still your behavior in prison.”

“One can pose a risk to public safety in many ways, with several types of criminal behavior, including the ones you were guilty of in prison,” he said.

Barton said while he recognizes the feeling of hopelessness and surviving Menendez had when he first came to prison, he believes the result of this parole board hearing would have been different if Menendez had no prison violations since 2013.

“Contrary to your supporters’ beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner, and frankly we find that a little disturbing,” Barton said, questioning if that means Menendez has been giving them false information about his prison behavior.

Barton reviewed many of Erik’s prison violations, including inappropriate behavior with visitors, drug smuggling, misuse of state computers and the incidences of violence in 1997 and 2011.

“The phone, again, in the abstract, it’s easy for the people on the outside to look at that and go, ‘what’s the big deal?'” Barton said. But that “doesn’t change the fact that you knew what you were doing and you knew why you were doing it.”

Barton said Menendez has a “great support network,” and he wants to see Menendez “maintain” use of that good support network consistently.

“You didn’t go to them before you committed these murders, and you didn’t go to them, before you used the cell phone,” he said.

Barton explained Menendez’s list of prison rules violations have sometimes led to five-year denials, nodding to how serious the board takes those violations.

“You have two options,” Barton said. “One is to have a pity party … and then you become a self-fulfilling prophecy, probably not getting granted next time. Or you can take to heart what we discussed.”

What happens next?

Since parole was denied, Menendez can ask the Board to review the case for errors of fact and to see if corrected, it would that lead to a different outcome.

Another avenue for Menendez is Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Newsom can also exercise his clemency power to pardon or release the Menendez brothers at any time,” the DA’s office said.

Here’s what happened during the parole board hearing:

Related story: A timeline of the Menendez brothers’ murder case

What happened during Erik Menendez’s parole board hearing?

“The purpose of this hearing is not to retry this case. Nor is the purpose of this hearing to put your parents on trial,” Barton said at the start of the hearing, noting the purpose of the hearing is to determine whether Erik Menendez poses a risk to public safety.

During the questioning portion of the hearing, board members asked Menendez to talk about two burglaries he committed before the murders of his parents.

Menendez said the motivation behind the burglaries was to impress older kids and his older brother Lyle. He said the second burglary was to stick it to his father, Jose Menendez.

Menendez said in his family, stealing wasn’t frowned upon, but getting caught was.

“I was not raised with a moral foundation … I was raised purposely without the moral foundation that I should not do wrong when I know the difference between right and wrong. I was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal, steal in the sense, an abstract way,” Erik Menendez explained. “When I was playing tennis, my father would make sure that I cheated at certain times if he told me to. The idea that there is a right and wrong that I do not cross because it’s a moral bound was not instilled in me as a teenager.”

Menendez said he developed a “moral guardrail” as part of his journey in prison.

What did Erik Menendez say about his parents’ murders during the hearing?

Menendez said there was a little over a year between the second burglary and the murders.

On the Tuesday before the murders, Menendez saw an incident between his mother Kitty Menedez and his brother Lyle. Erik went to the guest house and broke down. In the guest house, Erik talked to Lyle about the ongoing sexual abuse he was experiencing at the hands of their father.

“There was no talk about doing anything to my parents; the talk was, ‘you’re coming back to Princeton with me,'” Erik Menendez told the board.

Lyle believed he could take Erik away from the abuse, but when a confrontation with their father turned bad on Thursday night, that’s when the brothers decided to buy guns.

“The talk of buying the guns was not ‘Let’s buy guns and kill them,'” Erik Menendez explained to the board. “The talk of buying guns was, ‘it had now become very dangerous, and I had broken the one rule my father told me never to break.'”

Erik said the conversation on Tuesday was the first time he talked to Lyle about the sexual abuse they experienced.

“Lyle and I were raised purposely to not talk to each other about emotional or traumatic things … talking about something like that was considered a great weakness,” Erik said.

Erik Menendez said the purpose of the guns was “I was never going to let dad come in my room and do that again.”

While Erik Menendez described what led up to the murders, presiding commissioner Barton questioned why Menendez never left home, noting he was 18 at the time and could have gone to the authorities or other family members.

“It’s difficult to convey how terrifying my father was,” Erik said.

“My absolute belief that I could not get away. Maybe it sounds completely irrational and unreasonable today…” he continued.

When Barton again asked about why Menendez bought the guns, he said it was to protect himself.

“My purpose in getting the guns was to protect myself in case my father or my mother came at me to kill me,” Menendez said. “Or my father came in the room to rape me. That is why I bought the guns.”

The day of the murders, Erik Menendez said Jose Menendez ordered him to go to his room and that his dad was coming up.

“Dad was going to come to my room and rape me that night,” Erik said. “That was going to happen. One way or another. If he was alive, that was going to happen.”

Erik Menendez said he got the gun, went to the car and loaded it, before Lyle Menendez could.

“I didn’t even wait for Lyle,” Menendez said. “I knew I had to get to that den.”

Barton then questioned why Kitty Menendez was killed.

Erik said he believed Kitty would egg Jose on, and she was also being abused by Jose.

“Step by step, my mom had shown she was united with my dad … but when I found out that she knew” about the abuse, Erik said he no longer saw any daylight between his parents. “On that night I saw them as one person. Had she not been in the room, maybe it would have been different.”

What did Erik Menendez say about his behavior in prison during the parole hearing?

During the hearing, Barton questioned Menendez about violations he committed while in prison.

“We recognize that you’ve served a lot of time, even as horrific as these murders are, they are not necessarily the thing,” that would convince the board that Menendez is a risk to public safety.

Barton said Menendez’s prison record is “replete” with “diverse violations.”

The violations included drug use, assaulting other incarcerated people, using and having a cellphone, manipulating California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials, hiding contraband in his cell, and excessive physical contact with a visitor.

Barton also asked Menendez about his “risk areas.”

Menendez said his risk areas are “criminal thinking, substance abuse, violence, anger, impulsivity, cellphone use.” He said he has a “healthy relationship plan” and acknowledges there are concerns about co-dependency.

Menendez said during his first decade in prison he became more anti-social. He said generally in prison if he used alcohol or drugs, it was because he was “miserable” and feeling hopeless due to serving life in prison without parole.

“If I could numb my sadness with alcohol, I was going to do it,” Erik said. “I would have taken other drugs to numb that pain … I was looking to ease that sadness within me.”

While in prison, Erik asked multiple times to be put in the same facility as Lyle Menendez. Barton said he was asked by CDCR staff about his relationship with Lyle, Erik said there were never any problems. Barton said that was a “lie.”

Erik Menendez said he didn’t tell staff that Lyle molested him as a kid.

Menendez’s prison record also showed he was involved with the Two Fivers prison gang that led a tax scam and smuggled cellphones into the prison.

“I was in tremendous fear. When the Two Fivers came and asked for help, I thought this was a great opportunity to align myself with them and to survive,” Menendez said.

Menendez said at that time he was still facing life without the possibility of parole and prioritized surviving in prison over following the rules because he had no hope of getting out.

“By 2016, a lot changed for me in 2013,” Erik said, adding he had been moved to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and away from the gang. He also hadn’t seen his brother in quite some time and wanted to be closer to family.

Cellphone use while in prison was a repeat violation in Menendez’s record. He said he would let other people use his phone also.

“What I got, in terms of the phone and my connection with the outside world, was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone,” Menendez said.

Barton continued to question Menendez on the sprawling impact of phone use, which logically meant a CDCR staffer had to bring a phone in, that a prison gang may have benefitted by taxing the import of the phone.

“I knew of 50, 60 people that had phones,” Erik replied. “They were just available … I justified it by saying, ‘if I don’t buy it, someone else is going to buy it.’ The phones were going to be sold and I longed for that connection.”

Erik admitted he got addicted to the phones.

“You’re doing life without [parole], this is not really harming anyone,” he said.

The parole board pointed out because of this cellphone use, he lost family visitation rights for 3 years.

But in November 2024, Menendez realized consequences mattered, “consequences meant I was destroying my life.”

When Menendez realized he had a chance to get out, he said his “consequential thinking” kicked in.

“I can’t be doing this,” he said. “I don’t know how people know they’re going to go to the board in five to 10 years could be doing this.”

What changes did Erik Menendez make while in prison?

Menendez said during the parole board hearing that he has stopped using drugs.

“I didn’t like who I was when I was using drugs,” he said. “I wanted to make significant changes in my life. I had been in the mindset that I did not want to use anymore.”

Menendez told the board he will honor that commitment he made in October 2013.

Deputy Parole Commissioner Rachel Stern asked Menendez about his “relapse prevention plan for anger management.”

Erik said he was “angry, if not rageful, at my dad for coming into my room and not letting me go to college. At my mom for knowing … that night, yes, I was terrified for my safety, but I was also angry, and anger was a part of my childhood throughout my young adult life.”

On the night of the murder, Erik said anger “exploded out of me and I can’t imagine being angry at my mom now. I wasn’t angry an hour afterwards, and as I’ve grown I’ve realized just how severe the trauma was that she experienced.”

Menendez talked a lot about his relationship with God and dealing with “toxic shame.”

“From 2013 on, I was living for a different purpose,” Menendez said. “My purpose in life was to be a good person … I asked myself, ‘who do I want to be when I die?’ I believe I’m going to face a different parole board when I die.”

Menendez said faith was a “fundamental component” to changing his life in 2013.

Menendez also talked about the pain he put his family through.

“Seeing my crimes through my family’s eyes has been a huge part of my evolution and my growth,” he said. “Just seeing the pain and the suffering. Understanding the magnitude of what I’ve done, the generational impact.”

Menendez expressed his remorse for the murders, which will impact his family for generations.

“I’ve called it a forever crime,” he said. “It will impact every generation to be born. I cannot express sorrow and remorse enough. Doing it for the rest of my life will not be enough.”

Stern pointed out that Menendez has done “gobs of programming” and that listing all of it would take “until next week.”

Menendez leads a male sexual assault survivor group, is part of a “hospice group” and gets inmates to work one-on-one with other inmates who are struggling.

As part of the hospice group, Menendez worked with elderly life inmates to make sure they got their needs met. He learned during that time there is a lot of bullying of the elderly in prison, who are alone and uncared for.

Menendez also graduated from UCLA in June.

What were the closing statements during Erike Menendez’s parole hearing?

L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian acknowledged the work Menendez did to improve himself in prison.

“We hope that he one day achieves redemption,” Bailan said. “But the real question is did he learn, in all those classes … the most important lesson of all? Does he understand the full severity and depravity of his conduct?”

Bailan said Menendez’s self-improvement was motivated by having a chance to be released.

“He’s on the road,” he said. “He’s not there yet. He doesn’t have insight [into his crimes].”

Bailan told the parole board Menendez is not reformed and is still an unreasonable risk to society.

Menendez’s parole attorney Heidi Rummel then delivered closing statements, saying he isn’t a danger to society.

“This crime, as the rest of the world seems to understand, was driven by extraordinary trauma, physical abuse, emotional abuse and relentless domination by his parents,” she said.

Rummel said the CDCR violations were “low-level violations” in order to survive prison and pale in comparison to most other inmates in a high-security yard.

“In 2013, with life without parole and no remote possibility of leaving prison … he made dramatic changes in his life” she said. “He found his faith. He became accountable to his higher power. He found sobriety and made a promise to his mother on her birthday.”

Rummel said Menendez is so far from the person he was when he killed his parents.

“Never have I been in a hearing where so many family members, who know him so well and who knew what happened in that house and who loved his parents, have gone so far out of their way to support his release,” she said.

Menendez was then able to deliver his closing statement, saying this crime is about his family.

“I just want my family to understand that I am so unimaginably sorry for what I have put them through from Aug. 20, 1989, until this day, and this hearing,” he said. “I know that they have been here for me, and they’re here for me today. But I want them to know that this should be about them. It’s about them, and if I ever get the chance at freedom, I want the healing to be about them.”

Menendez talked about how there is trauma in the younger generations, even in people who weren’t born when the murders happened. He explained how the murders and the fight to get him out of prison caused divisions in his family.

“Don’t think it’s the healing of me, it’s the healing of the family,” he said. “This is a family tragedy.”

What did the victims’ families say during Erik Menendez’s parole hearing?

“I want to make clear that although I love my brother, I have fully forgiven Erik,” said Teresita Menendez-Baralt, Erik’s aunt and Jose’s sister.

Menendez-Baralt said Erik is a “sweet gentle soul” who deserved love. She said she wishes she could go back in time to “shield him in the way he should have been protected.”

About 18 people spoke during the family statement portion of the hearing, the majority of whom supported Menendez’s release and corroborated his growth.

Kitty Menendez’s great-niece Natascha Leonardo told the board she promises to house Menendez in Colorado, where he can be close to family and enjoy nature. She said he is closer to her kids and promised to provide a home of “unconditional love and stability.”

“We’re not asking you to release Erik into uncertainty,” Leonardo said. “We’re asking you to release him into a network of love and support.”

Kitty Menendez’s sister Joan Vandermolen was represented by her granddaughter Tiffani Lucero Pastor at the hearing. Vandermolen is 93 and not physically able to speak.

“My grandmother struggles with the shame and humiliation of the fact that the boys suffered abuse, and that her sister remained silent,” Pastor said.

Pastor said Vandermolen has forgiven Erik and wants him out of prison.

“Joan does not shy away from the fact that Erik killed her sister,” she said. “But Erik has earned a second chance … she is so proud of how he has worked relentlessly on himself, emotionally, spiritually.”

Jose Menendez’s niece Marta Cano Hallowell said the family will keep Erik accountable.

“He has a long journey,” she said. “But he has all of us beside him … making sure he second-guesses himself if he does anything he’s not quite supposed to. We will keep him accountable.”

Erik Menendez’s relatives, who have been pushing for his release, said in a statement after the hearing, “While we respect the decision, today’s outcome was of course disappointing and not what we hoped for. But our belief in Erik remains unwavering and we know he will take the Board’s recommendation in stride. 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.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman commended the board’s decision, calling it “justice for Jose and Kitty Menendez.”

“The Board’s decision reflects a careful, evidence-based assessment of the facts and parole factors,” Hochman said in a statement. “While this parole hearing has been denied, he will have subsequent parole hearings, and our office will continue to attend and make the case on behalf of justice and public safety.”