Lyle Menendez was denied parole by California authorities on Friday, after serving decades in prison for the murder of his parents in 1989, a crime committed with his brother Erik.
It comes just a day after Erik was also denied parole. Both Menendez brothers won’t be eligible for parole for another three years.
It’s a case that continues to fascinate the public, one that was even dramatised in a controversial Netflix series last year.
Erik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle at their original trial. (Picture: Vince Bucci/Getty Images)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 on August 20, 1989.
While defence lawyers 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. Their father was a wealthy businessman in the music industry.
Erik Menendez, who is being held at the same prison as his brother in San Diego, was denied parole on Thursday after commissioners determined his misbehavior in prison made him still a risk to public safety.
A day later, 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 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 hurting 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 said. “I think also I learned a lot after about her life, her childhood, reflecting on how much fear maybe she felt.”
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.
The panel asked Lyle Menendez 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,” 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 Menendez’s use of cellphones in prison as recently as March 2025.
“I had convinced myself that this wasn’t … harming anyone but myself in a rule violation,” Menendez 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.
“I would never call myself a model incarcerated person,” Menendez 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 Menendez is at “very low” risk for violence upon release.
According to previous court documents, Menendez has not gotten into any fights in his time in prison. He said nonviolence 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.”
With additional reporting by AP
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