A day after his brother Erik was denied a recommendation for release, Lyle Menendez will go before California’s parole board in a separate hearing to argue for his freedom after serving decades in prison for killing his parents.
Menendez is scheduled to appear virtually from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego on Friday morning.
The Menendez brothers were convicted in 1995 for the 1989 murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home. In 1996, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In May, a judge reduced their sentences to 50 years to life, making them eligible for parole under California’s youth offender law because they were under the age of 26 when they committed their crimes.
The brothers have maintained that they acted in self-defense after suffering years of alleged physical, sexual and emotional abuse from their parents. The Menendez brothers’ appellate attorney, Mark Geragos, and several family members have said they believe the brothers have changed after so much time in prison.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has publicly opposed the brothers’ possible release. He believes they have lied about the alleged abuse and have not taken full responsibility for their crimes. In a statement he shared prior to Erik Menendez being denied parole on Thursday, he said that “justice should never be swayed by spectacle,” referencing a number of documentaries and television shows based on the brothers in recent years.
He spoke with CBS News Los Angeles on Friday morning ahead of Lyle’s hearing. He said that neither brother testified to sexual abuse in the trial, but that they rather stated they believed their parents would kill them instead. Hochman said that the violent nature of the crimes, the pre-planned alibis and the clearing of evidence did not fall in line with their claims of sexual abuse.
“With respect to insight into the crimes, we have said repeatedly that the Menendez brothers have failed to accept full responsibility for their criminal actions and the lies that they’ve told,” Hochman said. “The self-defense defense lie is just that — a lie.”
He said that neither of the brothers is yet ready for parole.
“It’s not a question of never, it’s a question of not yet,” Hochman said.
California Corrections and Rehabilitation 
Erik Menendez’s parole hearing
The panel presiding over Erik Menendez’s hearing denied his bid for parole after a nearly 10-hour meeting.
Parole Board Commissioner Robert Barton explained that the panel understood the gravity of the hearing but could not recommend parole primarily because of Erik Menendez’s “behavior in prison.”
“We probably spent four times more than we do on our usual average here,” Barton said. “This is a tragic case. I agree that not only two, but four people, were lost in this family.”
Barton said he believed the parole panel’s decision would have been different if Erik Menendez had not violated prison policies since 2013. Following the denial, the commissioner listed Menendez’s violations, including inappropriate behavior with visitors, drug smuggling, misuse of computers, cell phone usage and incidents of violence in 1997 and 2011.
“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,” Barton said.
Along with Menendez’s violations, the panel also discussed the brutal murders of Kitty and Jose Menendez.
Instead of dismissing the alleged abuse, Barton expressed empathy for the brothers and their claims, but argued that they did not have to kill their parents. In hindsight, Barton suggested that the brothers could have left their parents, sought shelter with their relatives, or gone to the police rather than killing them. The commissioner described the murder of Kitty Menendez as “devoid of human compassion.”
“I can’t put myself in your place,” Barton 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 continued, saying that he and his colleagues “recognize and understand that many sexual assault victims find it hard to come forward, especially when the perpetrators are family members,” but noted that victims don’t usually kill their abusers.
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