After Erik Menendez, brother Lyle denied parole by California board for killing parents in LA

After Erik Menendez, now Lyle Menendez, one of the two brothers convicted in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in Beverly Hills, a city in Los Angeles County, was denied parole on Friday (August 22, 2025) by the California board. The development on Menendez comes a day after the same board rejected his brother Erik’s appeal for freedom. The two are serving in prison for decades for killing their parents in 1989 at their Beverly Hills mansion. The reason was the same: misbehavior behind bars.

A panel of two commissioners denied Lyle Menendez parole for three years after a daylong hearing. Commissioners noted the older brother still displayed "anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization, and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface," according to news agency AP. “We do understand that you had very little hope of being released for years," Commissioner Julie Garland was quoted by AP as saying. “Citizens are expected to follow the rules whether or not there is some incentive to do so," the Commissioner added.

She also stated that the panel found his remorse genuine and that he has been a “model inmate in many ways who has demonstrated the potential for change.” “Don’t ever not have hope,” she told Menendez.

Erik Menendez, Lyle Menendez were sentenced in 1996 for shooting their father

The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion almost exactly 36 years ago on August 20, 1989, according to AP.

While defense attorneys argued that the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance. A judge reduced their sentences in May 2025, and they became immediately eligible for parole. The parole hearings marked the closest they have come to winning freedom since their convictions almost 30 years ago.

Erik Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, was denied parole Thursday (August 21, 2025) after commissioners determined his misbehavior in prison made him still a risk to public safety.

Lyle Menendez details the abuse he suffered before the parole board

Lyle Menendez told the parole board details on Friday (August 22, 2025) about the abuse he suffered under his parents. He cried, face reddened, while delivering his closing statement. He seemed to still want to protect his “baby brother,” telling commissioners he took sole responsibility for the murders. "I will never be able to make up for the harm and grief I caused everyone in my family," he said, as quoted by AP. “I am so sorry to everyone, and I will be forever sorry,” he added. The state corrections department chose a single reporter to watch the videoconference and share details with the rest of the press.

Lyle Menendez describes abuse

The panel began by asking how abuse impacted decision-making in his life. The older brother described how his father physically abused him by choking, punching, and hitting him using a belt.

“I was the special son in my family. My brother was the castaway," he said. "The physical abuse was focused on me because I was more important to him, I felt.” He also said his mother also sexually abused him. He appeared uncomfortable discussing this with the panel, who asked why he didn't disclose his mother's abuse in a risk assessment conducted earlier this year.

Commissioners asked if one death made him more sorrowful than the other. “My mother. Because I loved her and couldn’t imagine harming her in any way," he was quoted by AP as saying. “I think also I learned a lot after about her life, her childhood, reflecting on how much fear maybe she felt,” he further explained.

Later, he broke down in tears when recounting how they confronted their mother about Jose Menendez's abuse of his younger brother. “I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that she knew," he said.