Hard blow for the Menendez brothers. A California judicial commission refused on Thursday, the parole of Erik Menendez, famous in the United States with his brother Lyle for having killed their wealthy parents in their villa in Beverly Hills over 35 years ago.
The 54 -year -old detainee “was denied parole for three years at his hearing” before the Commission, according to a statement. A bad sign for her brother Lyle, 57, whose fate must be examined separately on Friday.
Lyle and Erik Menendez are among the most publicized detainees in America: their trial in the early 1990s was one of the first broadcasts on television and their history returned to the light thanks to a series as well as a documentary from Netflix last year.
Two facets of Erik
The parole of the two brothers, who invoked their father’s sexual violence to justify the execution of their parents, was claimed by their family and supported by celebrities like Kim Kardashian. Their supports depict them as “model prisoners” who have changed in prison.
But the commission of the California Correctional and Reintegration Department has expressed doubts on Thursday that Erik Menendez is no longer a danger to the company. While recognizing progress, his two members were worried about his consumption of drugs and alcohol behind bars until 2013, his use of smuggling phones and accusations that he would have served a prison gang a decade ago.
“This ability to show a face, but to be something else, concerns us,” said Robert Barton, one of the two members of the panel. “We can grow and ripen in some respects, but have dead angles in other areas.”
A reduced sentence
Initially sentenced to life, the Menendez brothers saw their sentence reduced by a judge in May, making them eligible for a possible parole.
At the time of the murders, the prosecution had accused the two young men, aged 18 and 21 at the time of the events, of having murdered their parents to inherit their fortune of $ 14 million. Armed with shotguns, they fired five times on their father José Menendez, especially in the ball joints. Their mother, Kitty Menendez, died while crawling to try to escape them.
The brothers first attributed the murders to a stroke of the mafia, before changing their version several times. The investigators finally got their hands on the recording of a psychotherapy session, during which Erik admitted the murder.
Remorse that struggles to convince
In court, their lawyers invoked a desperate attempt at self -defense, saying that the two brothers had been raped for years by their father and that their mother was aware.
Asked to find out if he still thought he had acted in self -defense, Erik Menendez replied “no” on Thursday. But he also pointed out that at the time, his father’s psychological hold was such that he did not imagine fleeing. “It is difficult to express how terrifying my father was,” he said. In his teenage brain, “flee was inconceivable. Fleeing meant death. “
The youngest of the Menendez brothers also insisted on his repentance. “I just want my family to understand that I am infinitely sorry for what I made them undergo,” he said.
Remords that the representative of the Los Angeles prosecutor’s office, Habib Balian, did not judge sincere. “When someone continues to minimize their responsibility in a crime and continues to give the same excuses that he has given for over 30 years, this person is still as dangerous as they have shot his parents,” tackled the prosecutor. “Has he really changed, or does he just say what we want to hear?”
The last word goes to Gavin Newsom
After this refusal for Erik, a possible exit from prison for Lyle Menendez seems unlikely, even if each of their case is examined separately.
If the commission created the surprise by recommending his release, he could not immediately get out of prison. The process can take up to four months and the last word goes to the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom. The Democrat has the power to confirm or deny the granting of a parole, or even to request a review by the Commission.
In 2022, Gavin Newsom rejected a conditional liberation recommendation for Sirhan Sirhan, the murderer who had shot in 1968 Robert Kennedy, then Democratic presidential candidate.