Updated August 22, 2025 at 8:41 AM EDT
California has denied parole for Erik Menendez, who along with his brother Lyle have spent more than three decades behind bars for their parents' murders.
After a hearing lasting nearly 10 hours, the state's Board of Prison Terms ruled Thursday that Menendez can reapply for parole after three years — the soonest possible interval under state law.
Commissioner Robert Barton said he and the other board member "probably spent four times more than we do on our usual average here" before concluding that, based on legal standards, Menendez continues to pose "an unreasonable risk to public safety," LAist reports.
Barton said that while he was amazed by the statements made by Menendez family members in support of Erik's release: "Two things can be true. They can love and forgive you and you can still be found unsuitable for parole."
He said the fatal shooting of their mother showed Erik to be "devoid of human compassion" at the time, and cited a number of subsequent prison violations that he said showed Erik's "continued willingness to commit crimes."
Those include engaging in a tax fraud scheme for a prison gang, incidences of violence in 1997 and 2011, engaging in alcohol and drug use, and possessing a cellphone. At the hearing, Menendez said he was motivated by "tremendous fear" and mostly trying to cope with life in prison, per LAist.
The Menendez family said in a statement that Erik's "remorse, growth and the impact he's had on others speak for themselves," adding: "We continue to stand by him and continue to hope that he is able to return home someday soon."
"Tomorrow, we turn our attention to Lyle's hearing," it added. "And while is it undoubtably difficult, we remain cautiously optimistic and hopeful that the commissioners will see in Lyle what so many others have: a man who has taken responsibility, transformed his life, and is ready to come home."
A separate hearing for Lyle Menendez — conducted by a different panel — is set for Friday.
Mark Geragos, the brothers' attorney, told NewsNation's Cuomo earlier this week that while it is theoretically possible that only one of them gets released, "on the merits, it shouldn't happen."
"I have spent, I can't tell you how much time, with both of them," he said. "They are fascinating, intriguing and deserving of getting parole … They both should be out."
The brothers were found guilty in 1996 of murdering their parents, Kitty and José Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in August 1989 — when Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The brothers admitted to the killings but maintained they were done in self-defense, saying they had been sexually abused by their father and feared for their lives. They repeatedly appealed their convictions in the years that followed, without success.
But tides changed in 2023, after their lawyers presented new evidence bolstering their sexual abuse claims. The following year, after a Netflix documentary and docudrama brought renewed interest — and sympathy — to the brothers' case, then-Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón recommended their resentencing.
A judge did just that in May, reducing their sentences to 50 years to life. While both brothers are now in their 50s, they are eligible for parole under California's youthful offender law because they committed the murders before they were 26.
LA's current district attorney, Nathan Hochman, tried to block the resentencing process and has consistently opposed the brothers' release. His office said in a statement on Wednesday that "justice should never be swayed by spectacle," but pledged to "evaluate our final position based on the evidence presented at the hearing."
The parole board's decision does not become final for 120 days, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. During that time, it is subject to review by the board's legal office and could also be referred to the full board.
Even if the panel does approve parole, California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office has 30 days to review and potentially veto the decision.
Newsom said on a July episode of his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, that he would make a decision by Labor Day.
He told his guest, Ryan Murphy, the creator of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, that he had specifically avoided watching the show so it would not influence his thinking.
"I kept having a temptation to want to see it, but with the recognition always in the back of my mind that this thing may land on my desk," Newsom said. "I don't want to be persuaded by something that's not in the files."
Parole isn't the brothers' only potential path to freedom. A habeas petition their defense filed in 2023, arguing that new evidence should warrant a new trial, is still pending before a judge.
They have also sought clemency from Newsom, who said in February that he had directed the parole board to investigate whether they would pose an "unreasonable" public safety risk if released, but stressed that "there's no guarantee of outcome here."
Here's a look at how we got here — and what might happen next.
Who are the Menendez brothers?
Lyle and Erik Menendez spent their early years in New Jersey. The family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1986 as their father, José — an immigrant from Cuba and successful RCA record executive — rose through the ranks of the entertainment industry.
They moved into a seven-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills two years later. But the brothers say there was a dark undercurrent to their privileged lifestyle, alleging that their parents subjected them to years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
In August 1989, as José and Kitty Menendez were watching TV in their living room, the brothers walked inside and shot them to death with newly purchased 12-gauge shotguns. The brothers later called 911 and said their parents were killed by intruders.
Authorities initially suspected potential mafia involvement, due to the extreme nature of the crime scene and José's business connections. But they increasingly focused their attention on the brothers, who had embarked on a lavish spending spree in the days and weeks after the killings.
In early March 1990, Beverly Hills Police arrested Lyle in connection to his parents' murders. Erik, who was in Israel for a tennis tournament at the time, turned himself in days later.
What happened in court?
The case captivated much of the country, in part because Court TV broadcast the brothers' 1993 trial live.
Defense lawyers for the brothers argued that they had acted in self-defense, with the brothers saying they feared their parents would kill them to silence stories about the alleged abuse. They alleged that José subjected them to physical and sexual abuse for years while Kitty — described as an unstable alcoholic who also abused them — let it happen.
Prosecutors, however, argued that the brothers were motivated by greed and money — their father's estate was worth nearly $15 million at the time of his death.
In that trial, each brother had his own jury. Both of them deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial.
In their second trial, the judge limited the amount of testimony and evidence presented about the brothers' claims of sexual abuse, a core pillar of the brothers' self-defense strategy.
That trial ended in 1996 with each brother convicted of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
While watching their May hearing from prison via video, the brothers apologized for killing their parents and lying in the ensuing court proceedings, according to ABC News.
Erik said there was no justification for his actions, which he called "criminal, selfish and cowardly." But he also said he had "come a long way on this path of redemption," adding, "I will not stop trying to make a difference."
What have the brothers done in prison?
The first 20 years of that prison sentence saw the brothers kept in separate prisons, but they have been housed in the same San Diego correctional facility since 2018.
The brothers' lawyers have described them as model prisoners who have given back to others. That work is outlined in Gascón's 2024 memo advocating for their resentencing, which says they have each proven themselves to be an "incredible asset to his prison community."
Erik is credited with co-founding and facilitating several prison programs, including Life Care and Hospice Connections, Victim Impact & Victim Empathy for Vulnerable Populations and a Twelve Step Recovery and meditation class.
Lyle also created a number of programs, including an inmate advisory bulletin, a mentorship group of youth offenders without the possibility of parole and GreenSpace, a prison beautification project involving the painting of murals and landscape redesign.
"What I think you're going to see on Thursday with Erik is you're going to see a lot of discussion about the programs that he's instituted, not the least of which is the hospice program which he pioneered in California, it's kind of a template," said Geragos, their lawyer. "And I think when you get to Lyle on Friday, you're going to hear about the GreenSpace program."
The board also considers prison disciplinary records as a factor. That same 2024 memo says each brothers' record is "reflective of his positive trajectory throughout his period of incarceration."
It says Erik had eight violations over 30 years, most recently possession of a cellphone in 2021. It says Lyle has had five violations, including cellphone possession in 2024, noting that he "has not been in a single fight in the 30 years he has been incarcerated."
"In 1997 he had to be moved from General Population to the Special Needs Yard because he wouldn't fight back when attacked," it reads.
What new evidence has emerged?
Lawyers for the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in May 2023, asking a judge to consider new evidence of their father's sexual abuse.
That evidence includes a letter Erik wrote in 1988 to his cousin Andy Cano, describing sexual abuse by his father. Their lawyers had not known of the letter before the brothers saw it mentioned in a 2015 Barbara Walters television special and asked about it, according to the Associated Press. The LAist reports it was only discovered after Cano's death.
Another piece of evidence comes from Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin boy band Menudo — which was signed under RCA during José Menendez's tenure. He claimed in a 2023 docuseries that José had drugged and raped him in the 1980s, when he was a teenager.
The brothers' case reentered the spotlight the following year, not only because of the emerging evidence but because of new coverage: the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (which Erik has criticized) and The Menendez Brothers documentary both arrived on Netflix in the fall of 2024.
Weeks later, two dozen Menendez relatives gathered in Los Angeles to push for the brothers' resentencing.
Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez's sister, told reporters the brothers "were failed by the very people who should have protected them."
"[In the 1990s] the world was not ready to believe boys could be raped … Today, we know better," she added. "It's time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past."
Alana Wise and Ayana Archie contributed reporting.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story first published in May 2025.
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