Nearly 36 years to the day after Lyle and Erik Menendez murdered their parents, a California Parole Board panel has rejected Erik Menendez’s request for parole.
The decision, which came down early Thursday evening, is likely a sign that Lyle Menendez will receive the same outcome in his separate hearing, scheduled for Friday.
Thursday’s hearing was held virtually from San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, as will Friday’s.
More to come…
After initially being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996 when they were 21 and 18 years old, Lyle and Erik became eligible for parole in May after a Los Angeles judge reduced their sentences to 50 years to life; the eligibility distinction being that they were younger than 26 when the crimes occurred, per local law.
If parole is granted, the chief legal counsel would then have 120 days to review the case, followed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who would have a further 30 days to affirm or deny the decision.
Lyle and Erik, now 57 and 54 years old, respectively, have been imprisoned since being found guilty of the 1989 double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. The brothers have also become major aspects of pop culture, with the case most recently being portrayed in Netflix’s “Monsters.”
