- calendar_today August 15, 2025
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A California parole board this week denied parole to Erik Menendez after he spent more than 30 years in prison. The board found that Erik, who was convicted with his brother Lyle of murdering their parents in 1989, still presents “an unreasonable risk to public safety.”
The nearly 10-hour parole hearing this week considered Erik’s rehabilitation and conduct in prison, as well as arguments for and against his release. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office had asked the board to deny his parole request, and over a dozen relatives testified in his support. The board sided with the prosecutors, citing Erik’s juvenile criminal record, the nature of the crime, and “serious violations” in prison.
Erik, now in his 50s, can again apply for parole in three years. Parole Commissioner Robert Barton, who read the decision, said the board weighed not only the seriousness of the original murders but Erik’s behavior in prison.
“One can create a risk to public safety in many ways and by many types of criminal conduct, including those that you were found guilty of in prison,” Barton told Erik. He encouraged the inmate to rely more heavily on his “great support network” to help him stay out of trouble.
Erik has had one rule violation since arriving in prison, including drug possession, and contraband cell phone, and a lighter. Erik also received prison infractions for having two packages from an unidentified person. Several corrections officers wrote letters to the board on Erik’s behalf, saying he was a “model inmate.” But Barton asked if that description truly fit someone with so many violations. Erik said that only last year did he start to think that he might be paroled, and that his “consequential thinking changed.”
Many of Erik’s family members testified on his behalf and cried as they did so. They spoke of the pain and division caused by the murders over the past 35 years, but also spoke of forgiveness. “To say that our family has experienced pain does not quite capture what the last 35 years have been like,” said Tiffani Lucero-Pastor, the great-niece of the Menendezes’ mother, Kitty. “It has divided us. It has caused us panic and anxiety.”
Others said Kitty’s failure to stop abuse within the family home left the brothers living in fear. Karen Mae Vandermolen-Copley, Kitty’s niece, said her aunt’s “absence of protection deepened their fear and confusion.” The only family member known to oppose parole was Kitty’s brother, Milton Andersen, who died earlier this year.
After the ruling, the family released a statement, saying it was “deeply disappointed but fully respects the board’s decision.” “Our belief in Erik remains unwavering,” the statement read. “His remorse, his growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he can return home soon.”
Lyle Menendez to Face Parole Hearing, Governor Holds Final Say
Erik’s older brother, Lyle, will now face the parole board. His parole hearing is scheduled for Friday, when a different panel of commissioners will assess his record of rehabilitation and prison conduct. He has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and had surgery earlier this month. It’s not clear whether he will be able to attend in person.
Lyle has racked up a slightly lighter disciplinary record in prison than Erik, but his actions in the killings may have a more negative impact on the board. He testified at the 1993 trial that he shot his mother multiple times with a shotgun at close range and also killed his father at close range. Barton noted this week that the manner of his mother’s death “was devoid of human compassion.”
Lyle has also received negative attention for making several claims to investigators about abuse by their father, only to recant or change his story. At one point, prosecutors said, he even had his girlfriend make a false claim that their father had drugged and raped her. These actions could complicate his parole request, despite testimony from many family members who also plan to speak on Lyle’s behalf.
The Menendez brothers’ parole hearings follow their resentencing in May, when they were sentenced to 50 years to life in prison instead of life without parole. The state Supreme Court in 2022 ruled that inmates with such indeterminate sentences were eligible for parole for the first time. The parole hearings have drawn attention to one of the most notorious murder trials in California history. The brothers said they killed their parents out of fear after years of abuse. Prosecutors said the motive was money, since the father had accumulated a substantial fortune.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has the final say on the brothers’ fate. Under state law, the governor can affirm, deny, or modify parole board decisions for people convicted of murder and sentenced to indeterminate prison terms. The board’s decision will be reviewed internally for up to 120 days, and Newsom has 30 days to act.
Newsom has a record of siding with the board, though he can make changes as he sees fit. Legal experts say California governors have been historically hesitant to release high-profile inmates. “Every governor is fairly allergic to releasing high-profile defendants,” said Christopher Hawthorne, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Former governors Pete Wilson, Gray Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger granted parole in very few such cases, he said. But Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom have made parole more accessible in the past decade.
Still, the notoriety of the Menendez brothers may give the governor pause. As Hawthorne put it, Newsom must balance considerations of public safety against their insight into their crimes. “Has there been genuine insight into the circumstances that led to this horrendous murder and into their culpability in the murder?” he said.
For now, Erik must wait at least three years for another shot at parole. Lyle will soon find out if his case goes in a different direction—or if both brothers continue their sentences that began more than 30 years ago.
