Erik Menendez has been denied parole, nearly 40 years after he and his brother killed their parents inside their Beverly Hills mansion.
The 54-year-old appeared before the California Board of Parole Hearings on a live feed from the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego on Thursday, after a judge decided to reduce his and his brother Lyle’s sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life.
The two have been campaigning for years, but the board told Erik he would be denied parole for three years due to his behavior in prison.
They brought up prison reports of fights and other violations dating back to 1997, including drug and alcohol use, instances in which he was found with a contraband cell phone and even allegations that he helped a prison gang in a tax fraud scheme in 2013, the LA Times reports.
‘Contrary to your supporters’ beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner and frankly we find that a little disturbing,’ the board said, according to reporter Brian Entin.
The decision came after a full-day hearing during which commissioners on the board questioned Erik about why he committed the crime and why he violated prison rules.
They began by asking him about his involvement in a burglary at the age of 17.
‘It began as a prank with a couple of other people at a party and it escalated, and became a serious instance,’ Erik recounted, according to NBC Los Angeles. ‘I wanted to impress them and I was very immature and I made very poor decisions, and I ended up hurting those individuals that I burglarized.’
He then went on to tell the commissioners that he was ‘dealing with tremendous self-worth issues’ at the time.
‘I was not raised with a moral foundation,’ he continued. ‘I was raised purposely without the moral foundation that I should do no wrong when I know the difference between right and wrong.
‘I was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal in a sense – an abstract way.
‘When I was playing tennis, my father would make sure that I cheated at certain times if he told me to.
‘The idea that there is a right and wrong that I do not cross because it’s a moral bound[ary] was not instilled in me as a teenager.’
Erik and Lyle was arrested for the shooting deaths of their parents, Kitty and Jose, as they watched a movie at their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989.
The duo were 18 and 21 at the time they killed their parents.
Their trial prompted worldwide headlines. Prosecutors said their motive was greed, as they stood to inherit $14 million from their parents and had spent large sums of cash following the murders.
Erik had purchased a Jeep and retained a private tennis instructor with hopes of becoming a professional, while his brother bought a Porsche and a restaurant. The two were also infamously seen sitting courtside at an NBA game in between the murders and their arrest.
The brothers insisted they acted against a father who sexually abused them for years and a mother who turned a blind eye to the abuse.
The first trial ended with a hung jury. But at a second trial in 1996 – where the judge refused to allow any evidence about the brothers being molested by their father – they were convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
At the hearing on Thursday, Erik claimed he developed a ‘moral guardrail’ while in prison, where he earned a bachelor’s degree with top academic honors.
But he also said he decided to illegally obtain cellphones, despite the risk of discipline, because he did not believe there was a chance he could ever be released.
He said he took the gamble because the ‘connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone.’
Erik also told how he decided to associate with a prison gang for his own protection.
That all changed, he claimed, when he realized last year he could be paroled.
‘Now, the consequences meant I was destroying my life,’ the convict said.
Much of the rest of the hearing was focused on the allegations of sexual abuse, with Erik claiming he bought firearms ‘to protect myself in case my father or my mother came at me to kill me, or my father came in the room to rape me.’
When he was then asked why he did not just run away or report the abuse to the police, Erik said he felt ‘leaving meant death’ and he had an ‘absolute belief that I could not get away.’
Another commissioner then asked why he decided to also kill his mother. Evidence at the trial showed she had crawled on the floor, wounded, before the brothers reloaded the shotguns they had bought with someone else’s ID and fired a final shot.
‘When Mom told me… that she had known all of those years, it was the most devastating moment in my entire life,’ Erik said, becoming visibly emotional. ‘It changed everything for me. I had been protecting her by not telling her.’
‘On that night, I saw them as one person,’ he continued. ‘Had she not been in the room, maybe it would have been different.’
Erik also admitted at the hearing that his and his brother’s spending spree was an ‘incredibly callous act.
‘I was torn between hatred of myself over what I did and wishing that I could undo it and trying to live out my life, making teenager decisions,’ he explained.
Erik also used the hearing on Thursday as a chance to apologize to his family.
‘I just want my family to understand that I am so unimaginably sorry for what I have put them through,’ he said.
‘I know they have been here for me and they’re here for me today, but I want them to know, that this should be about them. It’s about them, and if I ever get the chance at freedom, I want the healing to be about them.’
In a statement, the Mendendez family said they were disappointed by Thursday’s ruling, noting that it was ‘not what we hoped for.
‘But our belief in Erik remains unwavering and we know that he will take the board’s recommendation in stride. His remorse, 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 is able to return home soon.’
The family also said they are now turning their to Lyle’s hearing, scheduled for Friday.
‘And while it is undoubtedly difficult, we remain cautiously optimistic and hopeful that the commissioner will see in Lyle what so many others have: a man who has taken responsibility, transformed his life, and is ready to come home.’
Erik’s lawyers now have the ability to request a board review of the case for errors of fact.
