Overview

• Commissioners rejected the 54-year-old’s parole bid after a full-day hearing conducted by video from the San Diego prison.
• The panel emphasized in-prison misconduct—not the original murders—as decisive, citing cellphone use, alleged gang cooperation, drug involvement and past tax fraud.
• Erik Menendez offered one of his most detailed accounts of his childhood and alleged abuse by his father as he sought to explain the 1989 killings.
• Lyle Menendez is scheduled for a separate parole hearing on Friday, with the outcome not yet determined.
• A May 2025 resentencing reduced the brothers’ terms to 50 years to life, enabling parole consideration, and gubernatorial clemency remains a separate avenue.