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Erik Menendez was denied parole during his first hearing in front of the state agency on Thursday, a disappointment to his extended family that came 36 years and one day after he and his older brother Lyle killed their parents in a spurt of violence in Beverly Hills.
“Today is the day all of my victims learned my parents were dead,” he said. “So today is the anniversary of their trauma journey,” Erik Menendez, 54, said of his extended family, many of whom were in attendance as he addressed members of the Parole Board Thursday for nearly ten hours at the hearing where more than a dozen relatives testified in favor of his release, along with his older brother Lyle. Erik participated in the hearing via video from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
The younger Menendez brother was grilled for hours, asked about why he killed his mother, Kitty, when it was his father whom he had accused of barbaric sexual abuse that had started when he was a young child. Menendez said he shot his mother because she had “betrayed him” by not stopping the abuse. “I saw my mother and my father as one person after I learned that she knew, so when I was running into the den, I was in a state of terror, of panic, of rage,” he said. State Parole Board Commissioner Robert Barton heard evidence of Menendez’s rehabilitative efforts behind bars, his unflinching remorse, and noted the lack of family members pushing for him to stay behind bars. He was also sympathetic to what he says he suffered at the hands of his father. “We recognize and understand that many sexual assault victims find it hard to come forward, especially when the perpetrators are family members,” Barton said.
Still, he wanted to know why Erik, who was 18 at the time of the crimes, didn’t just leave the home or go to the police. By the end of the long, grueling day of testimony, Barton denied Erik his freedom, saying: “You have two options: one is to have a pity party … and then you become a self-fulfilling prophecy, probably not getting granted [parole] next time. Or you can take to heart what we discussed. I hope that the people that are out there supporting you continue to motivate you.” The board said he can next be eligible for parole in three years.
The decision was disappointing to the brothers’ family, who issued a statement: “While we respect the decision, today’s outcome was of course disappointing and not what we hoped for. But our belief in Erik remains unwavering and we know 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,” they wrote. “Tomorrow, we turn our attention to Lyle’s hearing. 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.”
The hearing was covered by a single pool reporter from the Los Angeles Times, who provided updates to other media outlets. James Queally wrote that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation allowed him as the sole reporter to watch the hearing on a projector screen in a room inside the agency’s headquarters, just outside Sacramento.
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Michele McPhee
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