THE lawyer for the Menendez brothers has slammed the parole board that denied both men a shot at freedom as he plans to lodge a counterattack.
Erik, 54, learned he was denied parole on Thursday and his older brother Lyle, 57, quickly followed suit on Friday.
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However, their lawyer Mark Geragos said their bid for freedom should have been a “slam dunk” as he raged on the 2 Angry Men podcast that both hearings were “rigged”.
In 1996, the pair were convicted of the murders of their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez at their home in California in 1989 – an act they claim was in self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse.
They were sentenced to life without parole but were later re-sentenced after a successful appeal to 50 years with possibility of parole.
The re-sentencing followed decades of protests by the Menendez family to reduce the brothers’ sentences.
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Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman praised the work of the parole board for denying both men.
Parole Commissioner Robert Barton told Erik he would not be getting parole as “contrary to your supporters’ beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner.”
He added that the board found his actions behind bars – fights, drug smuggling, and use of mobile phones – “disturbing”.
Meanwhile, Lyle was denied because “for decades he has refused to accept full responsibility for his actions,” Hochman said.
“He has clung to a fabricated self-defense story, repeatedly shifting narratives and enlisting others to bolster false claims.”
“Parole may be considered in the future if Lyle Menendez fully accepts responsibility for the brutal killings of his parents, but until that time, he remains unfit for release,” he added.
But their lawyer Geragos called both hearings and their verdicts an “outrageous” sham.
“It was obviously rigged,” he told TMZ’s Harvey Levin.
“The only person who attended that hearing who didn’t think it was rigged was the DA’s office.”
“If the public saw the shenanigans that happened during these hearings there would be a revolution.”
He lashed out at a commissioner on Lyle’s board who allegedly compared his illicit cell phone use behind bars to “gang activity” during the hearing.
Geragos called it the “height of hypocrisy”, accusing them of turning a blind eye to the prison guards who “smuggle them in and sell them to inmates”.
“That’s what happens with every cell phone in the prison system – what a joke this is.”
He further called out the “insanity” of both boards who he believes focused too heavily on the actions of both men at the time of the crime rather than during their 35 years in prison.
As an example he used the boards’ questioning of Lyle’s purchase of a Porsche after the murders while Erik bought a Jeep to “show a difference in their personality characteristics.”
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“Not, Lyle, why is it that when people were attacking you in prison you didn’t get violent?,” he raged.
“Why is it Lyle that we don’t have a single violent incident in 30 years in these prison systems?
“Why is it that you’ve done this great work in the Green Space program and mentorship and there’s all kinds of people who talk about the great work you do?
“No I want to know back then, when you were a 21-year-old who just killed your parents, why did you buy a Porsche and not a Jeep? That was a serious question.”
“Shame on me for thinking there would be equity in this,” he added, vowing that he will be fighting both verdicts with a three-point plan.
A key figure in this strategy is California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Newsom previously spoke out about showing clemency to the brothers by requesting an assessment of their threat to the public.
And under state law he has final say over the parole hearing verdicts, calling himself the “ultimate arbiter” in the matter.
He previously overturned the parole board verdict for RFK’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan who was recommended for release in 2022.
“This will be a great test [of Newsom]. I think [he will take action on behalf of the brothers]. If i’m wrong, I’m wrong. I’m not relying on it, I’m going back to court,” Geragos said.
As well as asking the Governor to take action, he will be lodging two appeals with the court – one based on evidence and the other on the hearings themselves.
Geragos also highlighted that Kitty’s own sister and other members of the victim’s families are begging the Governor, prosecutors, and the parole board to free the brothers which he hopes will strengthen his appeals even further.
“I’m not giving up,” he vowed.
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case dates back more than three decades since their parents were found shot to death at their Beverly Hills mansion.
Below is a timeline of the brothers’ case, starting at the gruesome crime scene:
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested outside his parents’ Beverly Hills mansion.
March 11, 1990 – Erik surrenders to police after flying back into Los Angeles from Israel.
December 1992 – Murder charges against the brothers are officially filed.
July 20, 1993 – The murder trial, highly publicized on Court TV, begins in Los Angeles with Erik and Lyle each having a separate jury.
January 28, 1994 – The first trial ends with two deadlocked juries.
October 11, 1995 – Lyle and Erik’s second trial begins with one jury.
March 20, 1996 – The Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
July 2, 1996 – Lyle and Erik are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons.
February 22, 2018 – Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison, where Erik is held.
April 4, 2018 – Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik – the first time the brothers were reunited in over 20 years.
May 2023 – Lyle and Erik’s attorney files a habeas corpus petition after Roy Rosselló, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, made sexual abuse allegations against Jose Menendez in a Peacock docuseries.
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story releases on Netflix.
October 3, 2024 – Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón says his office is reviewing new evidence in connection with Lyle and Erik’s convictions.
October 7, 2024 – The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix.
October 16, 2024 – Family members of the Menendez brothers hold a press conference begging for the siblings to be released from prison.
October 24, 2024 – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommends the brothers be resentenced.
November 25, 2024 – The Menendez brothers appear in court for a status hearing to learn their resentencing hearing is pushed back from December 11 to allow new DA Nathan Hochman more time to review the case.
January 30-31, 2025 – Erik and Lyle’s resentencing hearing was initially set but had to be rescheduled due to the California wildfires.
February 21, 2025 – Hochman officially opposes a new trial for the brothers.
February 26, 2025 – California Governor Gavin Newsom orders the parole board to conduct a “comprehensive risk assessment” of the Menendez brothers.
March 10, 2025 – Hochman asks the court to withdraw Gascón’s resentencing motion
April 11, 2025 – Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic denies Hochman’s motion and allows the resentencing process to continue
April 17-18, 2025 – Brothers are scheduled to go before the judge at their resentencing hearings
May 13, 2025 – Menendez brothers sentences reduced to 50 years to life in prison.
August 21, 2025: Erik Menendez denied parole after mammoth 10-hour hearing.
