Second Menendez brother denied parole in parents’ murder

Lyle Menendez will remain in prison for his role in the 1989 murders of his parents, a California parole board decided Friday. The ruling came one day after the same panel denied parole to his younger brother, Erik.

The decisions thwarted efforts to free the Menendez brothers after decades in prison for killings they insist were done in self-defense.

Lyle, who was then 21, and Erik, then 18, plotted to kill their parents with shotguns in their Beverly Hills, California, mansion, then arranged the murder scene to look like a gangland execution. 

The parole board said that, like his brother, Lyle Menendez still poses a risk to the public’s safety. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has the authority to override the board’s decision, but has not indicated that he might do so. The brothers have requested clemency, as well as a new trial.

Notorious case 

In 1995, a jury trial found both brothers guilty of first-degree murder. Both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

It wasn’t until evidence came to light supporting the brothers’ claims that they were sexually abused by their father, Jose, that the spotlight once again shone on the Menendez brothers.

Testimony from a member of the boy band Menudo said Jose Menendez, then an executive at record label RCA, raped him at age 14. The testimony supported the brothers’ allegations of years of sexual abuse by their father. 

They were resentenced earlier this year to 50 years to life in prison, immediately making them eligible to be considered for parole. The parole board considered each brother’s case separately, judging them on their suitability for parole.  

Their case caused media spectacle and fan frenzy, both in the ’90s and again recently, after Ryan Murphy’s series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” launched on Netflix last year, sparking renewed interest in the Beverly Hills killings.