Saturday 23,August 2025 {HMC} Lyle Menendez has been denied parole one day after his brother Erik was similarly blocked from being freed from prison after more than three decades.
The Menendez brothers, who were convicted in the 1989 killings of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, were both rejected for release after separate, lengthy hearings before California’s parole board.
It marks a major setback for the pair who had seen recent court wins that brought them closer than ever to freedom.
The elder Menendez brother, 57, who has long been portrayed as the dominant sibling, can try for parole again at a hearing in three years, though the panel said that could be reduced to 18 months with good behaviour.
The parole board, which was comprised of a different panel than his brother Erik faced on Thursday, said they found “that there are still signs” Lyle poses a risk to the public.
The panel cited the brutal nature of the killings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, his lack of self-control and the signs that he still employs poor decision making.
“We find your remorse is genuine,” parole commissioner Julie Garland told him, explaining the decision and noting all the positive changes he had made while in prison.
“But despite all those outward positives, we see … you still struggle with anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule breaking that lie beneath that positive surface,” Garland said.
The grisly murders and the trial that followed were among the criminal cases that defined the last century.
During their trials, the brothers claimed the killings were done in self-defence after years of sexual and emotional abuse from their father that they said was enabled by their mother.
Prosecutors, though, argued they were greedy, entitled monsters who meticulously planned the killings then lied to authorities investigating the case while going on a $700,000 (£526,000) spending spree using money they had inherited.
It was Lyle, long considered the dominant brother, who at first told police that he believed his parents’ brutal deaths were a mob hit job. He also fashioned elaborate stories that involved people lying for him to cover up their involvement. Both were cited by the board in their reasoning against his release.
The Menendez brothers were not arrested until police got word of their admissions to a psychologist.
“I’m profoundly sorry for who I was … for the harm that everyone has endured,” Lyle told the board. “I will never be able to make up for the harm and grief I caused everyone in my family. I am so sorry to everyone, and I will be forever sorry.”
Focus on Lyle’s illicit cell phone use in prison
Lyle faced a different panel of parole commissioners than his brother, who was denied release from prison on Thursday after a similarly lengthy hearing.
Like his brother, Lyle also appeared virtually for the hearing from the San Diego prison where he has been housed. The proceedings stretched to more than 10 hours and concluded after the sun had set in Los Angeles.
The panel reviewed whether Lyle posed a risk to society if released and examined his life before the killings and his time in prison. He was asked about his time as a student at Princeton University and how he was accused of plagiarism and suspended as a result, as well as speeding violations and burglary allegations.
Erik Menendez denied parole three decades after killing his parents in LA
Prison conduct and contraband: Four things we learned from Erik Menendez’s parole hearing
They also asked questions about moments of the killings, what led up to the murders and his motivation.
The panel repeatedly brought up his illicit cell phone use in prison, which they said he appeared to have near constant access to for years. Commissioner Patrick Reardon, one member of the panel, questioned if they should give so much weight to all the positive things he did in prison – like his schooling and programmes he created for inmates – when he was constantly violating the rules.
The panel noted he plead guilty to a cell phone violation as recently as March of this year.
In explaining their denial of his parole, commissioner Garland said “incarcerated people who break rules” are more likely to break rules in society.
Although he had a tablet that he was allowed to use, Lyle explained that he continued to use cell phones because it gave him more privacy.
Soure BBC NEWS
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