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Erik Menendez, who, along with his brother, Lyle, was convicted in the murder of his parents, was denied 36 years parole by the California Board of Parole Hearings.
The decision to deny Menendez, 54, eligibility for three years following a 10-hour hearing that took place via video conference on Thursday (August 21). Erik's attorneys and relatives claimed that he had been rehabilitated since being sentenced in the slayings of his parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1996.
Lyle Menendez, 57, is set to have his own parole hearing on Friday (August 22). The board would have 120 days to conduct a legal review prior to submitting a recommendation for parole to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will then have 30 days to affirm or deny it.
Attorneys representing the Menendez brothers claim that they have been model prisoners, specifically noting Erik's work cofounding a support group for prisoners in hospice care, as well as Lyle's work advocating for victims of childhood sexual abuse. The Menendez brothers gained celebrity status for their high-profile trials in the 1990s and were brought back into the spotlight after being featured in a Netflix documentary released last year.
The Menendez brothers claimed that they killed their parents out of fear for their lives following a lifetime of sexual abuse, especially from their father, who they claimed was a cruel perfectionist and pedophile, while portraying their mother as an enabling, selfish, mentally unstable alcoholic and drug addict, during their initial trial in 1993. The brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole during their second trial, however, resentenced by a judge to 50 years to like, making them eligible for parole, earlier this year.