Lyle Mendez denied conditional release, a day after Brother Erik was also refused

The California Parole Board rejected Lyle Menendez’s bid for release on Friday, one day after a separate panel refused to publish his brother Erik.

The brothers appeared their first performance for the conditional administration since they were convicted of the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty in 1989. A judge in Van Nuys agreed in May to reduce their penalties to 50 years to life, making them eligible.

Both brothers will still have a chance of conditional release in three years.

Julie Garland, one of the two conditional commissioners who heard the matter, said that although Lyle Mendez has shown a number of positive signs behind the bars, “you are still struggling with antisocial personality traits such as deception, minimization and rules that they lie below that positive surface.”

Garland urged him not to give up the hope for release.

“This denial is not … it’s not the end,” she said. “It is a way for you to spend some time to demonstrate, to practice what you preach about who you are, who you want to be.”

A spokesperson for the Menendez family said that the family is disappointed but is not discouraged and noted that a Habeas Corpus -Petition is still being treated for both brothers.

“We love them unconditionally and will continue to assist them on the journey that lies in front of us,” the family said.

Lyle Menendez addressed the board on Friday and apologized for the crimes and said that the decision to resort to violence was only his and not his brother’s.

“I’m very sorry for whom I was, for the damage that everyone has endured,” said Mendez. “I will never be able to make up for the damage and the sadness that I have caused everyone in my family. I am so sorry for everyone, and I will regret forever.”

The Parole Board assesses prisoners for ‘suitability’, based on whether they pose a current threat to society. Much of the hearing on Friday was aimed at the illegal use of mobile phones from Menendez in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

Menendez was excluded from having family visits for three years after he was caught with a telephone in March 2024. As a prisoner, he had access to an approved prison tablet, but he said that prison staff had access to his communication and she would sometimes sell to gossip magazines. He said he used the illegal mobile phone to keep in touch with family.

“I had convinced myself that this was not a means that someone other than myself was damaging myself in a violation of the rule,” he said. “I didn’t think it really disturbed prison management.”

A prison doctor concluded that Menendez exhibited antisocial properties, including rights, deception, manipulation and not accepting consequences.

Public Prosecutor Ethan Milius, who opposed conditional release, argued that the file demonstrated that Menendez believes that “the rules do not apply to him.”

“There is no growth,” said Milius. “It’s just who seems to be Lyle.”

Heidi Rummel, conditional lawyer for Mendez, argued that the telephone issue had been blown out of proportion and that there was no evidence of violence or other crime behind bars.

She also insisted on the panel to consider the serious consequences of sexual abuse from childhood when making their decision.

“This crime came from trauma, from unsolved trauma, out of fear, from sadistic abuse and cruelty,” she said.

The family members of Menendez also urged him to release him at the panel. Their testimony was interrupted when it turned out that ABC News had obtained and broadcasted and broadcasted Audio from Thursday’s hearing with Erik Menendez. Rummel argued that the release of the audio was inappropriate, because the family members did not know that audio would be public from their testimony. After a considerable delay, the hearing was resumed with the commissioners who promised not to release an audio from Friday’s hearing without further procedures.

The Case Mendezzaak was re -created in the pop culture with the release of “Samples: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”, the Hit Netflix series that was released last year. The series, together with two documentaries about the case, came out when the brothers had a hanging Habeas Corpus -in which they argued that new proof justified a new trial.

The Los Angeles County da at the time, George Gascón, was asked his position about the motion that the office encouraged to take a new look and eventually resentle the case. At the time, the brothers served sentences of life without the possibility of conditional release.

Gascón was well defeated in the November 2024 elections. His successor, Nathan Hochman, has raised strenuous objections to the release of the brothers and claims that their continuous claims of “self -defense” show that they have not taken full responsibility for their crimes.