Lyle Menéndez should not be released from prison for the murder of his parents more than three decades ago, California probation officials said on Friday.
The decision, made on Friday night after a The 11 -hour hearing arrived just over 24 hours after Menéndez’s younger brother, Erik Menéndez, was also denied probation for his part in the murder of José and Kitty Menéndez in the house of Beverly Hills of the family on August 20, 1989.
Like his brother, Lyle Menéndez will be eligible for probation again in three years, although he could have an audience before depending on the result of an administrative review.
Different officials presided over consecutive hearings in the intensely followed case, which was catapulted again at the Center for Attention after a pair of transmission series and a persistent defense. The effort to ensure its launch has highlighted the sometimes complicated debate on rehabilitation versus imprisonment.
Speaking on Friday night, the commissioner of probation Julie Garland described Lyle, 57, as a model inmate whose remorse seems genuine and has demonstrated the potential for change.
“But despite all those external positive ones,” Garland said, “you still fight with antisocial personality traits such as deception, minimization and rupture of rules under that positive surface.”
Both brothers were summoned by prison violations in which probation officials focused during hearings. Lyle’s most recent infraction was in March 2024, when it was discovered that he had a cell phone.
In a statement on Friday night, his family said they were disappointed with denials, but that they remained “incredibly proud of how Erik and Lyle presented themselves, with honesty, responsibility and integrity.”
“This is not the end of the road,” said the family, noting that the brothers will go to the Board again and will have a separate and continuous judicial procedure that seeks to cancel their convictions.
They have also sought clemency in a request still pending by the governor of California Gavin Newsom.
“Meanwhile, we know that the time will be taken to reflect on the recommendations of the Board and will continue to lead, mentor and build programs that support rehabilitation and hope for others,” said the family.
‘Unreasonable risk’
The denials occurred three months after a Los Angeles judge concluded that the brothers do not represent an “unreasonable risk” and rented them to 50 years of life for the 1989 murders of their parents, a decision that effectively canceled their previous terms of life from prison without the possibility of probation and made them eligible for “suitability” audiences immediately.
Lyle’s hearing began Friday at 9:03 am, hours after a probation commissioner came to the opposite conclusion as the judge and said that Erik, 54, raised an “unreasonable risk” and should not be released.
Using a light blue jumper and sitting in a chair at the Richard J. Donovan correctional center in San Diego County, Lyle pointed out the gloomy anniversary of his parents’ murder two days ago and said he assumes responsibility “for all this pain.”
“My mother and dad did not have to die that day,” he said, adding: “I can never compensate for the damage and pain that I caused everyone in my family. I am very sorry for everyone, and I always feel it.”
Friday’s hearing was delayed when a media outlet obtained and published an audio recording of Erik’s probation procedures, a measure of the California corrections and rehabilitation department, which supervises the Board of Probation, had prohibited.
A brothers lawyer, Heidi Rummel, hit the Board for not following his own rules. And the family members who testified in support of Lyle left their victims’ impact statements.
“We are not sure of the Board’s ability to protect the victims at this time,” Rummel said.
Self -defense claim
Erik and Lyle Menéndez They were convicted of first degree murder after two sensational judgments that covered three years in the mid -1990s. The first, which was televised, ended with a jury hanging.
Both testified in the initial procedures, claiming that they killed their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, in self -defense after years of abuse at the hands of their father. Only Erik testified in the second trial, which ended with convictions in 1996.
The prosecutors played their self -defense statements for a long time and pointed out the bleak details of the murders, Lyle recharged their shotgun before shooting their mother in the face, and described the murders as ruthless and financially motivated.
Many family members have been open defenders of the freedom of the brothers and pointed out their works after bars, which include attending the university, helping disabled inmates and establishing a “beautification” project in their prison.
The Los Angeles County District Prosecutor’s Office has had different points of view about the impulse of the brothers for freedom. Weeks before his expulsion last year, the former County prosecutor, George Gascón, said the brothers had been “exceptional” inmates and recommended that they be.
Nathan Hochman, his successor, judged, and failed, withdrew that recommendation. He said the brothers had not assumed the responsibility of more than a dozen lies that said they told about the murders, including the statement that they killed their parents in self -defense.
Hochman said the probation board made the right decision by denying probation for both Lyle and Erik Menéndez.
“For decades, Lyle Menéndez has refused to accept all the responsibility of his actions,” Hochman said in a statement on Friday. “Together with his brother, he has clung to a manufactured self -defense story, repeatedly changing the narratives and enlisting others to reinforce false statements.”
Denial for Erik Menéndez
The probation commissioner Robert Barton, who presided over Erik’s hearing, said he was impressed by the many relatives of support of family members, but cited a series of prison violations, including inappropriate behavior with visitors, drug smuggling and the misuse of state computers.
“Unlike the beliefs of his followers, you have not been a model prisoner, and we find it a bit disturbing,” Barton said.
Barton said the seriousness of the murders “is not a main reason for this denial. It remains its prison behavior.”
“You have two options,” Barton told Erik Menéndez. “One is having a pity party … and then you become a self -fulfilling prophecy, they probably do not grant you next time. Or you can take seriously what we discuss.”
