Like his brother, Erik, simply 24 hours earlier, Lyle Menendez’s request for parole was denied Friday night by a California Parole Board panel.
Whereas the choice isn’t closing but — it received’t turn out to be official till the CPB evaluation course of is finalized, together with a separate listening to the place the panel will clarify their reasoning for denying parole — solely not often does the bigger Parole Board overrule a rejection. And whereas California Gov. Gavin Newsom has the ability to make the ultimate name, he has already indicated he’ll possible observe no matter CPB recommends.
As such, it places an finish, for now at the very least, to the Menendez Brothers’ quest to be launched from jail, the place they’re presently serving 50 years to life for the 1989 homicide of their mother and father. Nonetheless, now 54 and 57 respectively, the brothers’ efforts to safe launch from jail isn’t over. Each of them are petitioning the state for clemency and are individually searching for new trials.
As on Thursday, Friday’s listening to was held just about from San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.
The Menendez brothers murdered their mother and father, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1089 when Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21. They’ve been imprisoned since their arrest just a few months later in 1990.
After a prolonged authorized battle — their first courtroom case infamously ended with a mistrial — the brothers have been convicted and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole in 1996.
However in years after their conviction, they grew to become an unlikely trigger célèbre. After a a long time lengthy marketing campaign for his or her launch, they grew to become eligible for parole in Might of 2025, when a Los Angeles decide decreased their sentences to 50 years to life. The explanation provided that they have been youthful than 26 when the crimes occurred, which based on native regulation makes them eligible.
However being eligible for parole and truly receiving it are very completely different issues, as each brothers realized this week.
