SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KABC) — A California parole board determined to disclaim Erik Menendez parole, and he should stay in jail for the 1989 murders of his mother and father when he was 18 years previous.
Menendez and his brother Lyle Menendez have been convicted of first-degree homicide in 1996 throughout a retrial and sentenced to life in jail with out parole. After a years-long battle, the Menendez brothers have been resentenced to 50 years to life with the opportunity of parole. Resulting from that resentencing, they turned eligible for parole hearings beneath youth offender parole legal guidelines.
Erik Menendez’s parole listening to was on Thursday and lasted 10 hours. The listening to was digital, and Erik Menendez participated from a pc on the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Lyle Menendez’s parole listening to can be Friday.
Erik Menendez attended the practically 10-hour listening to by way of video from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. The board mentioned he can subsequent be eligible for parole in three years.
The parole board mentioned it is a three-year denial, and Erik Menendez can then be eligible for parole once more at the moment.
“I consider in redemption or I would not be doing this job … however based mostly on the authorized requirements, we discover that you simply proceed to pose an unreasonable danger to public security,” Parole Commissioner Robert Barton mentioned.
Throughout the listening to on Thursday, Erik Menendez was questioned by the parole board, he gave a closing assertion after which the victims’ family spoke to the board.
Erik Menendez attends the parole listening to nearly from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation
What did the parole board say concerning the parole denial?
The board mentioned at situation have been Menendez’s burglaries earlier than the murders, using cellphones whereas in jail and the homicide of his mom. These have been all subjects the board questioned Menendez about throughout the listening to.
“Whereas we give nice weight to youth offender elements, your continued willingness to commit crimes and violate jail guidelines,” weighed towards Menendez, Barton mentioned.
Barton mentioned he discovered the execution of Kitty Menendez to indicate him on the time to have been “devoid of human compassion.”
“I am unable to put myself in your home,” he mentioned. “I do not know that I’ve ever had rage to that degree, ever. However that’s nonetheless regarding, particularly because it appears she was additionally a sufferer herself of the home violence.”
Barton mentioned Erik may have “legally left” on the age of 18 and sought shelter along with his family, including that he ought to have or may have gone to the police.
“We acknowledge and perceive that many sexual assault victims discover it arduous to come back ahead particularly when the perpetrators are members of the family,” Barton mentioned, however famous these victims do not usually kill their abusers in such horrific vogue.
Barton mentioned Erik “was not in imminent worry” for his life and added that the spending spree after the murders provides weight to the argument there was a monetary motive to the killings.
Barton mentioned the seriousness of the crime is “not a major motive for this denial. It is nonetheless your habits in jail.”
“One can pose a danger to public security in some ways, with a number of kinds of legal habits, together with those you have been responsible of in jail,” he mentioned.
Barton mentioned whereas he acknowledges the sensation of hopelessness and surviving Menendez had when he first got here to jail, he believes the results of this parole board listening to would have been totally different if Menendez had no jail violations since 2013.
“Opposite to your supporters’ beliefs, you haven’t been a mannequin prisoner, and albeit we discover that somewhat disturbing,” Barton mentioned, questioning if meaning Menendez has been giving them false details about his jail habits.
Barton reviewed lots of Erik’s jail violations, together with inappropriate habits with guests, drug smuggling, misuse of state computer systems and the incidences of violence in 1997 and 2011.
“The telephone, once more, within the summary, it is easy for the individuals on the surface to have a look at that and go, ‘what is the huge deal?'” Barton mentioned. However that “does not change the truth that you knew what you have been doing and also you knew why you have been doing it.”
Barton mentioned Menendez has a “nice help community,” and he desires to see Menendez “keep” use of that good help community constantly.
“You did not go to them earlier than you dedicated these murders, and also you did not go to them, earlier than you used the cellular phone,” he mentioned.
Barton defined Menendez’s record of jail guidelines violations have generally led to five-year denials, nodding to how severe the board takes these violations.
“You’ve got two choices,” Barton mentioned. “One is to have a pity social gathering … and then you definately turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, most likely not getting granted subsequent time. Or you’ll be able to take to coronary heart what we mentioned.”
What occurs subsequent?
Since parole was denied, Menendez can ask the Board to evaluation the case for errors of truth and to see if corrected, it will that result in a special final result.
One other avenue for Menendez is Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Newsom can even train his clemency energy to pardon or launch the Menendez brothers at any time,” the DA’s workplace mentioned.
This is what occurred throughout the parole board listening to:
Associated story: A timeline of the Menendez brothers’ homicide case
What occurred throughout Erik Menendez’s parole board listening to?
“The aim of this listening to is to not retry this case. Neither is the aim of this listening to to place your mother and father on trial,” Barton mentioned initially of the listening to, noting the aim of the listening to is to find out whether or not Erik Menendez poses a danger to public security.
Throughout the questioning portion of the listening to, board members requested Menendez to speak about two burglaries he dedicated earlier than the murders of his mother and father.
Menendez mentioned the motivation behind the burglaries was to impress older youngsters and his older brother Lyle. He mentioned the second housebreaking was to stay it to his father, Jose Menendez.
Menendez mentioned in his household, stealing wasn’t frowned upon, however getting caught was.
“I used to be not raised with an ethical basis … I used to be raised purposely with out the ethical basis that I mustn’t do improper once I know the distinction between proper and improper. I used to be raised to lie, to cheat, to steal, steal within the sense, an summary approach,” Erik Menendez defined. “After I was taking part in tennis, my father would make it possible for I cheated at sure instances if he advised me to. The thought that there’s a proper and improper that I don’t cross as a result of it is a ethical certain was not instilled in me as a young person.”
Menendez mentioned he developed a “ethical guardrail” as a part of his journey in jail.
What did Erik Menendez say about his mother and father’ murders throughout the listening to?
Menendez mentioned there was somewhat over a yr between the second housebreaking and the murders.
On the Tuesday earlier than the murders, Menendez noticed an incident between his mom Kitty Menedez and his brother Lyle. Erik went to the visitor home and broke down. Within the visitor home, Erik talked to Lyle concerning the ongoing sexual abuse he was experiencing by the hands of their father.
“There was no discuss doing something to my mother and father; the speak was, ‘you are coming again to Princeton with me,'” Erik Menendez advised the board.
Lyle believed he may take Erik away from the abuse, however when a confrontation with their father turned unhealthy on Thursday night time, that is when the brothers determined to purchase weapons.
“The speak of shopping for the weapons was not ‘Let’s purchase weapons and kill them,'” Erik Menendez defined to the board. “The speak of shopping for weapons was, ‘it had now turn into very harmful, and I had damaged the one rule my father advised me by no means to interrupt.'”
Erik mentioned the dialog on Tuesday was the primary time he talked to Lyle concerning the sexual abuse they skilled.
“Lyle and I have been raised purposely to not speak to one another about emotional or traumatic issues … speaking about one thing like that was thought of an awesome weak spot,” Erik mentioned.
Erik Menendez mentioned the aim of the weapons was “I used to be by no means going to let dad are available my room and do this once more.”
Whereas Erik Menendez described what led as much as the murders, presiding commissioner Barton questioned why Menendez by no means left house, noting he was 18 on the time and will have gone to the authorities or different members of the family.
“It is troublesome to convey how terrifying my father was,” Erik mentioned.
“My absolute perception that I couldn’t get away. Perhaps it sounds utterly irrational and unreasonable at this time…” he continued.
When Barton once more requested about why Menendez purchased the weapons, he mentioned it was to guard himself.
“My function in getting the weapons was to guard myself in case my father or my mom got here at me to kill me,” Menendez mentioned. “Or my father got here within the room to rape me. That’s the reason I purchased the weapons.”
The day of the murders, Erik Menendez mentioned Jose Menendez ordered him to go to his room and that his dad was arising.
“Dad was going to come back to my room and rape me that night time,” Erik mentioned. “That was going to occur. A method or one other. If he was alive, that was going to occur.”
Erik Menendez mentioned he acquired the gun, went to the automobile and loaded it, earlier than Lyle Menendez may.
“I did not even await Lyle,” Menendez mentioned. “I knew I needed to get to that den.”
Barton then questioned why Kitty Menendez was killed.
Erik mentioned he believed Kitty would egg Jose on, and he or she was additionally being abused by Jose.
“Step-by-step, my mother had proven she was united with my dad … however once I discovered that she knew” concerning the abuse, Erik mentioned he now not noticed any daylight between his mother and father. “On that night time I noticed them as one individual. Had she not been within the room, possibly it will have been totally different.”
What did Erik Menendez say about his habits in jail throughout the parole listening to?
Throughout the listening to, Barton questioned Menendez about violations he dedicated whereas in jail.
“We acknowledge that you have served loads of time, whilst horrific as these murders are, they don’t seem to be essentially the factor,” that may persuade the board that Menendez is a danger to public security.
Barton mentioned Menendez’s jail file is “replete” with “various violations.”
The violations included drug use, assaulting different incarcerated individuals, utilizing and having a cellphone, manipulating California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officers, hiding contraband in his cell, and extreme bodily contact with a customer.
Barton additionally requested Menendez about his “danger areas.”
Menendez mentioned his danger areas are “legal pondering, substance abuse, violence, anger, impulsivity, cellphone use.” He mentioned he has a “wholesome relationship plan” and acknowledges there are issues about co-dependency.
Menendez mentioned throughout his first decade in jail he turned extra anti-social. He mentioned usually in jail if he used alcohol or medication, it was as a result of he was “depressing” and feeling hopeless attributable to serving life in jail with out parole.
“If I may numb my disappointment with alcohol, I used to be going to do it,” Erik mentioned. “I’d have taken different medication to numb that ache … I used to be seeking to ease that disappointment inside me.”
Whereas in jail, Erik requested a number of instances to be put in the identical facility as Lyle Menendez. Barton mentioned he was requested by CDCR workers about his relationship with Lyle, Erik mentioned there have been by no means any issues. Barton mentioned that was a “lie.”
Erik Menendez mentioned he did not inform workers that Lyle molested him as a child.
Menendez’s jail file additionally confirmed he was concerned with the Two Fivers jail gang that led a tax rip-off and smuggled cellphones into the jail.
“I used to be in large worry. When the Two Fivers got here and requested for assist, I believed this was an awesome alternative to align myself with them and to outlive,” Menendez mentioned.
Menendez mentioned at the moment he was nonetheless dealing with life with out the opportunity of parole and prioritized surviving in jail over following the foundations as a result of he had no hope of getting out.
“By 2016, so much modified for me in 2013,” Erik mentioned, including he had been moved to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and away from the gang. He additionally hadn’t seen his brother in fairly a while and wished to be nearer to household.
Cellphone use whereas in jail was a repeat violation in Menendez’s file. He mentioned he would let different individuals use his telephone additionally.
“What I acquired, when it comes to the telephone and my reference to the surface world, was far higher than the results of me getting caught with the telephone,” Menendez mentioned.
Barton continued to query Menendez on the sprawling influence of telephone use, which logically meant a CDCR staffer needed to convey a telephone in, {that a} jail gang could have benefitted by taxing the import of the telephone.
“I knew of fifty, 60 people who had telephones,” Erik replied. “They have been simply out there … I justified it by saying, ‘if I do not purchase it, another person goes to purchase it.’ The telephones have been going to be offered and I longed for that connection.”
Erik admitted he acquired hooked on the telephones.
“You are doing life with out [parole], this isn’t actually harming anybody,” he mentioned.
The parole board identified due to this cellphone use, he misplaced household visitation rights for 3 years.
However in November 2024, Menendez realized penalties mattered, “penalties meant I used to be destroying my life.”
When Menendez realized he had an opportunity to get out, he mentioned his “consequential pondering” kicked in.
“I am unable to be doing this,” he mentioned. “I do not know the way individuals know they will go to the board in 5 to 10 years may very well be doing this.”
What modifications did Erik Menendez make whereas in jail?
Menendez mentioned throughout the parole board listening to that he has stopped utilizing medication.
“I did not like who I used to be once I was utilizing medication,” he mentioned. “I wished to make vital modifications in my life. I had been within the mindset that I didn’t need to use anymore.”
Menendez advised the board he’ll honor that dedication he made in October 2013.
Deputy Parole Commissioner Rachel Stern requested Menendez about his “relapse prevention plan for anger administration.”
Erik mentioned he was “offended, if not rageful, at my dad for coming into my room and never letting me go to varsity. At my mother for understanding … that night time, sure, I used to be terrified for my security, however I used to be additionally offended, and anger was part of my childhood all through my younger grownup life.”
On the night time of the homicide, Erik mentioned anger “exploded out of me and I am unable to think about being offended at my mother now. I wasn’t offended an hour afterwards, and as I’ve grown I’ve realized simply how extreme the trauma was that she skilled.”
Menendez talked so much about his relationship with God and coping with “poisonous disgrace.”
“From 2013 on, I used to be residing for a special function,” Menendez mentioned. “My function in life was to be a great individual … I requested myself, ‘who do I need to be once I die?’ I consider I will face a special parole board once I die.”
Menendez mentioned religion was a “basic element” to altering his life in 2013.
Menendez additionally talked concerning the ache he put his household by.
“Seeing my crimes by my household’s eyes has been an enormous a part of my evolution and my development,” he mentioned. “Simply seeing the ache and the struggling. Understanding the magnitude of what I’ve finished, the generational influence.”
Menendez expressed his regret for the murders, which is able to influence his household for generations.
“I’ve referred to as it a ceaselessly crime,” he mentioned. “It would influence each technology to be born. I can’t specific sorrow and regret sufficient. Doing it for the remainder of my life is not going to be sufficient.”
Stern identified that Menendez has finished “gobs of programming” and that itemizing all of it will take “till subsequent week.”
Menendez leads a male sexual assault survivor group, is a part of a “hospice group” and will get inmates to work one-on-one with different inmates who’re struggling.
As a part of the hospice group, Menendez labored with aged life inmates to ensure they acquired their wants met. He realized throughout that point there may be loads of bullying of the aged in jail, who’re alone and neglected.
Menendez additionally graduated from UCLA in June.
What have been the closing statements throughout Erike Menendez’s parole listening to?
L.A. County Deputy District Legal professional Habib Balian acknowledged the work Menendez did to enhance himself in jail.
“We hope that he sooner or later achieves redemption,” Bailan mentioned. “However the actual query is did he study, in all these lessons … crucial lesson of all? Does he perceive the complete severity and depravity of his conduct?”
Bailan mentioned Menendez’s self-improvement was motivated by having an opportunity to be launched.
“He is on the highway,” he mentioned. “He isn’t there but. He does not have perception [into his crimes].”
Bailan advised the parole board Menendez will not be reformed and remains to be an unreasonable danger to society.
Menendez’s parole legal professional Heidi Rummel then delivered closing statements, saying he is not a hazard to society.
“This crime, as the remainder of the world appears to grasp, was pushed by extraordinary trauma, bodily abuse, emotional abuse and relentless domination by his mother and father,” she mentioned.
Rummel mentioned the CDCR violations have been “low-level violations” in an effort to survive jail and pale compared to most different inmates in a high-security yard.
“In 2013, with life with out parole and no distant chance of leaving jail … he made dramatic modifications in his life” she mentioned. “He discovered his religion. He turned accountable to his greater energy. He discovered sobriety and made a promise to his mom on her birthday.”
Rummel mentioned Menendez is so removed from the individual he was when he killed his mother and father.
“By no means have I been in a listening to the place so many members of the family, who know him so nicely and who knew what occurred in that home and who cherished his mother and father, have gone to this point out of their option to help his launch,” she mentioned.
Menendez was then capable of ship his closing assertion, saying this crime is about his household.
“I simply need my household to grasp that I’m so unimaginably sorry for what I’ve put them by from Aug. 20, 1989, till today, and this listening to,” he mentioned. “I do know that they’ve been right here for me, they usually’re right here for me at this time. However I would like them to know that this needs to be about them. It is about them, and if I ever get the prospect at freedom, I would like the therapeutic to be about them.”
Menendez talked about how there may be trauma within the youthful generations, even in individuals who weren’t born when the murders occurred. He defined how the murders and the struggle to get him out of jail precipitated divisions in his household.
“Do not suppose it is the therapeutic of me, it is the therapeutic of the household,” he mentioned. “This can be a household tragedy.”
What did the victims’ households say throughout Erik Menendez’s parole listening to?
“I need to clarify that though I really like my brother, I’ve absolutely forgiven Erik,” mentioned Teresita Menendez-Baralt, Erik’s aunt and Jose’s sister.
Menendez-Baralt mentioned Erik is a “candy mild soul” who deserved love. She mentioned she needs she may return in time to “protect him in the best way he ought to have been protected.”
About 18 individuals spoke throughout the household assertion portion of the listening to, nearly all of whom supported Menendez’s launch and corroborated his development.
Kitty Menendez’s great-niece Natascha Leonardo advised the board she guarantees to deal with Menendez in Colorado, the place he could be near household and luxuriate in nature. She mentioned he’s nearer to her youngsters and promised to offer a house of “unconditional love and stability.”
“We’re not asking you to launch Erik into uncertainty,” Leonardo mentioned. “We’re asking you to launch him right into a community of affection and help.”
Kitty Menendez’s sister Joan Vandermolen was represented by her granddaughter Tiffani Lucero Pastor on the listening to. Vandermolen is 93 and never bodily capable of converse.
“My grandmother struggles with the disgrace and humiliation of the truth that the boys suffered abuse, and that her sister remained silent,” Pastor mentioned.
Pastor mentioned Vandermolen has forgiven Erik and desires him out of jail.
“Joan doesn’t draw back from the truth that Erik killed her sister,” she mentioned. “However Erik has earned a second likelihood … she is so happy with how he has labored relentlessly on himself, emotionally, spiritually.”
Jose Menendez’s niece Marta Cano Hallowell mentioned the household will preserve Erik accountable.
“He has an extended journey,” she mentioned. “However he has all of us beside him … ensuring he second-guesses himself if he does something he isn’t fairly speculated to. We’ll preserve him accountable.”
Erik Menendez’s family, who’ve been pushing for his launch, mentioned in an announcement after the listening to, “Whereas we respect the choice, at this time’s final result was in fact disappointing and never what we hoped for. However our perception in Erik stays unwavering and we all know he’ll take the Board’s advice in stride. His regret, development, and the optimistic influence he is had on others converse for themselves. We’ll proceed to face by him and maintain to the hope he is ready to return house quickly.”
Los Angeles County District Legal professional Nathan Hochman counseled the board’s choice, calling it “justice for Jose and Kitty Menendez.”
“The Board’s choice displays a cautious, evidence-based evaluation of the info and parole elements,” Hochman mentioned in an announcement. “Whereas this parole listening to has been denied, he can have subsequent parole hearings, and our workplace will proceed to attend and make the case on behalf of justice and public security.”
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