SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) — Lyle Menendez, who gained national notoriety after killing his parents with his brother Erik in 1989, was denied parole Friday after an emotional hearing where he described childhood sexual abuse by both his mother and father.
Lyle, 57, wore prison blues as he sat in front of a computer at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego on Friday to attend the long-awaited virtual hearing that lasted over 11 hours.
The parole board said Lyle still poses a risk to the public when announcing the decision.
"You have been a model inmate in many ways, who has demonstrated the potential for change. But despite all those outward positives, we see ... you still struggle with anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule breaking that lie beneath that positive surface," Parole Commissioner Julie Garland said.
The decision to keep Lyle locked up comes a day after a separate parole panel ruled that Erik was still a danger to the community, due in large part to his rule violations behind bars.
“I'm not surprised that the commissioners also rejected Lyle's parole petition… The brothers are very similarly situated in terms of how they plotted and planned this murder and how they tried to cover it up afterwards,” said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.
Team 10 reported earlier this year that both Erik and Lyle had two ‘serious' rule violations while in prison at Donovan. Both have been caught with smuggled cellphones.
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Lyle, who has had eight rule violations as of this month, has gotten into trouble for refusing an order, using a prison phone without permission, and possessing contraband items such as a lighter and Adidas shoes, according to court records.
Tabloids paid for info on Lyle's phone calls
The inmate's possession of a smuggled cellphone was a hot-button issue on Friday.
Lyle's attorney, Heidi Rummel, attempted to justify her client's possession of a contraband phone. She told the parole board staff at Donovan prison were listening to Lyle's calls and selling details to the tabloids.
“I felt like the phone was a way to protect … privacy,” Lyle said.
During the parole hearing, Garland asked Lyle about his relationship with his mother.
Lyle told the commissioner his mom had sexually abused him — something Garland noted wasn’t in a comprehensive risk assessment done earlier this year by a psychologist.
“I didn’t see it as abuse, really. I just saw it as something special between my mother and I. So, I don’t like to talk about it that way,” he said.
Lyle added that he now recognizes it as sexual abuse.
“When I was 13, I felt like I was consenting and my mother was dealing with a lot and I just felt like maybe it wasn’t … it’s abusive but I never saw it that way, in the same way.”
Fireworks over audio release
The marathon parole hearing, which started around 9 a.m. and ended at 8:07 p.m., was delayed for several hours after Rummel tried to get the entire matter adjourned after ABC News obtained audio from Erik's Thursday hearing.
She said she has never been able to get parole board audio and Lyle's relatives were speaking Friday in support of him under the assumption their statements would be confidential.
'A public spectacle'
"CDCR is not following its own rules. We are sitting here asking Mr. Menendez to follow rules … and in the middle of this hearing, we find out CDCR is not following its own rules. It's outrageous," she said.
Garland said the parole board planned to release audio to the public under California's public records laws.
Rummel then demanded to know what state policy allowed for the audio to be released.
“It’s highly unusual. It’s another attempt to make this a public spectacle," she said.
After opposition from Rummel, Garland agreed to withhold audio of Friday's hearing. She ended the matter by encouraging Lyle to keep a positive attitude moving forward.
“Don’t ever not have hope … this denial is not … it’s not the end. It’s a way for you to spend some time to demonstrate, to practice what you preach about who you are, who you want to be,” Garland said.
She said Lyle will be considered for an administrative review within one year, and he could be moved up to a hearing as soon as 18 months.
The parole board’s decision can be appealed and Governor Gavin Newsom has the authority to overturn it.
The Menendez brothers also have a clemency request pending before Newsom and are pursuing a new trial through a habeas corpus petition.
Rahmani, who was a prosecutor in San Diego from 2009 to 2012, said getting a new trial is unlikely.
“The habeas petition is really an uphill legal battle.”
