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A California parole board denied parole this week to Erik Menendez, who has been in prison for more than three decades. Erik and his brother Lyle were convicted of the 1989 killings of their parents, and at a parole hearing this week, the board found that Erik still “poses an unreasonable risk to public safety.”

Over the course of nearly 10 hours of testimony, the board discussed Erik’s rehabilitation in prison, his behavior, and the reasons for and against granting him parole. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office’s representatives asked the board to deny parole, while over a dozen family members advocated for his release. The board ultimately agreed with prosecutors, noting Erik’s juvenile record, the violent nature of the crime, and “serious violations” in prison.

At 50, Erik is now eligible to apply for parole in three years. In a statement explaining the decision, Parole Commissioner Robert Barton noted that the denial was “not only because of the circumstances of the offenses that you were convicted of 35 years ago,” but also because of Erik’s behavior behind bars.

“You can present a risk to public safety in many ways through various types of criminal conduct, including the types of criminal conduct you were found guilty of while you were in prison,” Barton said to Erik at the hearing, asking him to “lean more heavily on your great support network to prevent future violations.”

Erik has received nine infraction reports since entering prison for crimes ranging from possession of a small amount of drugs to contraband items, including a cell phone and lighter. Despite receiving letters from several corrections staff members attesting to his status as a “model inmate,” Barton questioned the use of that term in light of his nine infraction reports. Erik responded that he did not believe release was possible until about a year ago and that his “consequential thinking” began to change then.

Family members who spoke on Erik’s behalf were frequently tearful as they spoke about the effects of the murders. Many have discussed the pain and division caused by the crime over the past three decades, as well as forgiveness. “To say that our family has experienced pain does not quite capture what the last 35 years have been like,” Tiffani Lucero-Pastor, the great-niece of the brothers’ mother, Kitty Menendez, said. “It has divided us. It has caused us panic and anxiety.”

Others mentioned Kitty’s lack of intervention in the abuse that both brothers said occurred in the home at the time of the murders. Karen Mae Vandermolen-Copley, Kitty’s niece, said the “absence of protection deepened their fear and confusion.” Kitty’s brother, Milton Andersen, was the only family member known to oppose parole, but he died earlier this year.

In a statement following the decision, the family expressed both disappointment at the ruling but also respect for the process. “Our belief in Erik remains unwavering,” the statement continued. “His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on those around him speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he can return home soon.”

Lyle Menendez to Face Parole Hearing, Governor Holds Final Say

Erik was not the only Menendez brother to have a parole hearing this year. Erik’s older brother, Lyle, will face the parole board on Friday as they consider his record of rehabilitation and prison conduct. Like Erik, Lyle has accumulated just under 10 disciplinary violations in prison, but Barton noted that the killings themselves were “devoid of human compassion” when Lyle testified in 1993 that he fired multiple shotgun blasts into both of their parents at close range.

Lyle, too, has faced questions about the allegations of abuse by his father, for which both brothers say they committed the murders. At one point, prosecutors said, Lyle even asked his girlfriend to lie in an affidavit and claim their father had drugged and raped her. As Barton noted, Lyle’s account of the events “changed over the course of many years,” which may make it more difficult for him to gain release despite support from some family members expected to testify on his behalf.

The parole hearings for both brothers come after they were resentenced in May to 50 years to life after the state’s high court struck down life-without-parole sentences in favor of the 1976 guidelines, now allowing parole for the first time. The case of the Menendez brothers has been one of the state’s most notorious murder trials since the events of 1989. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have long sparred over the brothers’ claim that abuse at their father’s hands made them fearful of the consequences of any perceived misbehavior and drove the murders.

Prosecutors argued, on the other hand, that the killings were motivated by their father’s wealth and fortune, which would have excluded the boys from inheriting. Governor Gavin Newsom has the final decision on whether either brother is released. California governors can approve, deny, or modify parole board decisions for all people convicted of murder and given indeterminate sentences under a 1988 law. The decision will be reviewed by the board for as long as 120 days and will be given to Newsom, who will have 30 days to act on it.

Still, the Menendez brothers may face a more difficult decision because of their name recognition. “The governor’s decision has to balance, you know, whether the public’s reasonably safe and whether they have insight into their crime and have changed,” Hawthorne added.

For now, Erik will continue his life behind bars at least until his next opportunity for parole three years from now. Lyle’s future will soon be determined as well, either on a path to parole or more life behind bars with the sentence he began more than 30 years ago.