Erik Menendez was refused to probation on Thursday after believing in prison for decades because he had murdered his parents with his older brother in 1989.
A jury of California Commissioners denied the probation of Menendez for three years, whereupon it is used again, in a case that continues to fascinate the public. For Friday morning, a hail of probation for his brother Lyle Menendez is planned, which is recorded in the same prison in San Diego.
The two commissioners found that after a full -day hearing, Menendez should not be liberated, in which they asked him why he had committed the crime and violated prison rules.
The brothers were entitled to probation after a judge had brought their punishments to life from life without probation in May.
The hearing of probationists were the closest freedom to gain freedom since their conviction almost 30 years ago because they had murdered their parents.
A Californian probation committee has decided that the convicted murderer Eric Menendez will remain in prison. On Friday, the board will hear the case of its brother Lyle Menendez, who was also sentenced to her parents in 1989.
The brothers were sentenced to life in 1996 because they fatally shot their father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in 1989. While defenders argued that after years of sexual abuse, the brothers had acted from their father from the long -term sexual abuse of the public prosecutor who looked for the brothers a multimillion intestine in men.
A judge reduced their punishments in May and they were immediately entitled to probation.
Erik Menendez made his case to two probation officers and, in years, how he grew up, provided his most detailed report, why he made the decisions and how he turned into prison. He noticed that the hearing had decreased almost exactly 36 years after his parents’ killing – on August 20, 1989.
“Today is August 21st. Today is the day when all my victims learned that my parents were dead. Today, today is the anniversary of their trauma trip,” he said, referring to his family members.
The Department of State Corrections selected a single reporter to view the video conference and exchange details with other media.
Erik Menendez ‘prison file
A photo shared by the officials showed menendez, gray-haired and spectacle and sat in front of a computer screen with a blue T-shirt over a white long-sleeved shirt.
The commissioner committee examined every violation of the rules and fought in his lengthy prison file, including the allegations, he worked with a gang of prison, bought drugs, used cell phones and helped with tax fraud.
He said to the commissioners, since he had no hope of ever getting out, he had primarily to protect the rules. Then last autumn, the prosecutors asked a judge to annoy him and his brother and open the door to probation.
“The consequences were now important in November 2024,” said Menendez. “Now the consequences meant that I destroyed my life.”
A special sticking point for the commissioners was its use of mobile phones.
“What I got with regard to the phone and my connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences that I was caught with the phone,” said Menendez.
Other encounters with the law
The board also raised its earliest encounters with the law when he committed two burglaries in the high school.
“I was not brought up with a moral foundation,” he said. “I was brought up to lie, cheat, to steal an abstract way in this sense.”
The panel asked about details how he used a fake ID to buy the weapons he and Lyle Menendez used to kill their parents, who first acted and why they killed their mother when their father was the main slower.
Commissioner Robert Barton asked: “You see that there were other options at this time?”
“When I look back on the person I was back then and what I believed about the world and my parents, it was unimaginable to run away,” said Menendez. “To run away meant death.”
His transformation behind bars
Erik Menendez’s probation lawyer, Heidi Rummel, emphasized in 2013 as a turning point for her client.
“He found his faith. He became responsible for his higher power. He found soberness and promised his mother on her birthday,” said Rummel. “Was he perfect since 2013? No. But he was remarkable.”
Commissioner Rachel Stern also applauded him that he started a group to take care of older and disabled inmates.
Since the reunification of the brothers, they have been “serious accountability partners” for each other. At the same time, he said that he had become better to set borders with Lyle Menendez, and they tend to make different programs.
More than a dozen of their relatives who campaigned for the publication of the brothers for months, provided emotional statements at the hearing on Thursday on Thursday.
“Seeing my crimes in the eyes of my family was a large part of my development and my growth,” said Menendez. “Just see the pain and suffering. Understand the size of what I did, the generation effects.”
Support of the family
His aunt Teresita Menendez-Baralt, Jose Menendez’s sister, said she fully forgiven him. She noticed that she died of cancer in stage 4 and would like to welcome him in her home.
“Erik carries with kindness, integrity and strength, which comes from patience and grace,” she said.
A relative promised the probation house that she would accommodate him in Colorado, where he spend time with his family and enjoying nature.
Nathan Hochman, the district prosecutor of the district in LA, said before the hearings that he leaned against probation against probation for her lack of insights and compared her to Sirhan Sirhan, who murdered the presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. The democratic governor Gavin Newsom contested him in January 2022 because of his pre -obtained insight.
During the hearing, La Attorney Habib asked Balian Menendez after the attempts of his and his brothers to ask witnesses to be in court on their name, and when the brothers carried out the murders as a mafia. The commissioners largely dismissed the questions and said they did not repeat the case.
What happens next
In final statements, Balian asked whether Menendez was “really reformed” or said what commissioners wanted to hear.
“If you further reduce your responsibility for a crime and continue to make the same false excuses that they have done for more than 30 years, you are still the same dangerous person they were when they shot their parents,” said Balian.
Lyle Menendez will be released on Friday about the video conference for his probation hearing hearing from the same prison in San Diego.
The case has attracted the attention of the true crime -loving enthusiasts for decades and produced documentaries, television specials and dramatization. The Netflix drama Monster: The story of Lyle and Erik Menendez And a documentary published in 2024 was credited to draw new attention to the brothers.
A stronger recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has also contributed to mobilizing support for their release. Some followers flew to Los Angeles to keep rallies and take part in court hearings.
