The Menendez brothers will remain behind bars after a panel of two commissioners denied Lyle and Erik parole for three years due to misbehaviour in prison.
Lyle, 57, was denied parole on Friday by the same board that rejected his brother Erik’s appeal for freedom a day earlier after they served decades in prison for killing their parents in 1989 at their Beverly Hills mansion.
The brothers’ lawyer, Mark Geragos, spoke out after Lyle and Erik, 54, were both denied their freedom. Commissioners emphasized to the brothers that their use of illicit cellphones in prison cast a shadow on their positive achievements while behind bars.
“It was obviously rigged,” Geragos said on the 2 Angry Men podcast on Saturday. “Don’t believe me? Talk to any of the family members. The only person who didn’t think it was rigged was the DA’s office.”
“You wanna know the truth?” Geragos continued. “If you got them and injected them with truth serum, they would admit it was rigged, too. If the public saw the shenanigans that were happening during these hearings, there would be a revolution.”
Geragos also alleged that the cellphones spoken about in both hearings could have been “smuggled in” by prison guards.
“First of all, they have tablets, they’ve got phones,” Geragos said. “They pay per minute. The only person who doesn’t profit or gets impacted financially by cellphone usage in the prisons is the for-profit suppliers.”
“How do you think these cellphones get into these prisons?” he continued. “Do you think drones come by and drop them in, or do you think guards smuggle them in and sell them to the inmates?”
Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez, shared a similar opinion to the brothers’ lawyer following her husband’s parole hearing.
“Parole Commissioner Robert Barton had his mind made up to deny Erik parole from the start,” she wrote on X. “This was a complete setup, and Erik never stood a chance! #Injustice.”
In another post, Tammi wrote, “Erik hasn’t had any infractions since 2011, apart from a cell phone possession. To the media reporting otherwise: please get the facts straight! #erikmenendez.”
After it was announced that her husband’s brother was denied parole, Tammi wrote, “I’m furious! CDCR not only released unauthorized photos of Erik and Lyle, but they’re also distributing audio from the hearings to the media to be twisted and used against them and their family.”
“This is illegal the family should have been notified!” she added.
During Lyle’s parole hearing, commissioners noted that he still displayed “anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface.”
“We do understand that you had very little hope of being released for years,” commissioner Julie Garland said. “Citizens are expected to follow the rules whether or not there is some incentive to do so.”
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She also said 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 Lyle.
Lyle told the parole board details about the abuse he suffered under his parents. He cried 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. “I am so sorry to everyone, and I will be forever sorry.”
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 Aug. 20, 1989. While defence lawyers argued that the brothers acted out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers sought a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
A judge reduced their sentences in May, 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.
The panel asked Lyle whether the murders were planned and about the brothers buying guns.
“There was zero planning. There was no way to know it was going to happen Sunday,” he said, referring to buying the guns as “the biggest mistake.”
“I no longer believe that they were going to kill us in that moment,” he said. “At the time, I had that honest belief.”
Similar to his brother’s hearing the day before, the panel zeroed in on Lyle’s use of cellphones in prison as recently as March.
“I had convinced myself that this wasn’t a means that was harming anyone but myself in a rule violation,” Lyle said.
He said correctional staff were monitoring his communications with his wife and family and selling them to tabloids, so he saw cellphones as a way to protect his privacy. There was “a lot of stress in his marriage” around the time he transferred to the prison in San Diego and he wanted to stay in close touch with his wife, he said.
“I would never call myself a model incarcerated person,” Lyle said. “I would say that I’m a good person, that I spent my time helping people…. I’m the guy that officers will come to to resolve conflicts.”
The panel noted that a psychologist found that Lyle is at “very low” risk for violence upon release.
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According to previous court documents, Lyle has not gotten into any fights in his time in prison. He said non-violence was a promise he made to his grandmother.
“My life has been defined by extreme violence,” he said. “I wanted to be defined by something else.”
Erik Menendez was denied parole on Aug. 21 after commissioners determined his misbehaviour in prison made him still a risk to public safety.
The panel of two parole commissioners said Erik was unsuitable for release, basing its decision on multiple factors, including his behaviour in prison, burglaries he participated in before the murders and the killing of his parents.
They said his actions in prison, including affiliating with a prison gang and having a cellphone in violation of the rules, showed he was a risk to public safety.
Commissioner Robert Barton said Erik will be eligible to appear before the parole board again in three years and urged him to change his behaviour.
“You have two options,” Barton said. “One is to have a pity party … and then you become a self-fulfilling prophecy, probably not getting granted next time. Or you can take to heart what we discussed.”
“I believe in redemption, or I wouldn’t be doing this job,” he added. “But based on the legal standards, we find that you continue to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.”
The brothers still have a pending habeas corpus petition filed in May 2023 seeking a review of their convictions based on new evidence supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father.
— With files from The Associated Press
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