Erik Menendez appeared at the parole hearing by video link from prison in San Diego, where he and his brother are being held. Photo / Getty Images
Erik Menendez appeared at the parole hearing by video link from prison in San Diego, where he and his brother are being held. Photo / Getty Images
Erik Menendez has been denied parole more than three decades after he and his brother Lyle were convicted of slaughtering their parents in the family’s luxury Beverly Hills home.
A California panel ordered the 54-year-old to stay in prison, defying a lengthy campaign waged by his family, friends and celebritiessuch as Kim Kardashian.
“Erik Menendez was denied parole for three years at his initial suitability hearing today,” said a brief statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
The result will be a huge blow to a movement that has swelled in recent years, nourished by documentaries and TV dramas, including the Netflix hit Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Lyle Menendez, 57, is due to appear before a parole panel tomorrow.
The brothers are among America’s most celebrated prisoners after starring in one of the first televised murder trials.
The Menendez brothers remain two of the most well-known inmates in American criminal history. Photo / Getty Images
Hearings in the 1990s were told how they killed Jose and Kitty Menendez in August 1989 in what prosecutors said was a cynical attempt to get their hands on a large family fortune.
After setting up alibis and trying to cover their tracks, Erik and Lyle shot Jose Menendez five times with shotguns, including in the kneecaps.
Kitty Menendez died from a shotgun blast as she tried to crawl away.
The brothers initially blamed the deaths on a mafia hit, but changed their story several times in the ensuing months.
Erik, then 18, confessed to the murders in a session with his therapist.
The pair ultimately claimed they had acted in self-defence after years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of a tyrannical father.
During their decades in prison, changing social mores and greater awareness of sexual abuse helped elevate them to something approaching cultural icons.
Today’s hearing, which was closed to the public, was expected to last two to three hours.
Instead, it went on all day.
Erik Menendez appeared by video link from prison in San Diego, where he and his brother are being held.
Two or three panel members, whose identities were not given by CDCR, questioned him on his behaviour and attitude towards the murders.
The hearing became possible when a judge resentenced the brothers earlier this year, reducing their full-life tariff to one of 50 years with the possibility of release.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. Photo / Getty Images
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman opposed resentencing and said he would oppose parole.
He has insisted that the men’s shifting explanations for the double deaths – they gave five different accounts in the course of the murder investigation – means they have not truly admitted their guilt.
“The Menendez brothers have never fully accepted responsibility for the horrific murders of their parents,” he said this week.
Lyle’s hearing today is independent of his brother’s.
