One day after his younger brother was denied in his bid for parole, a state parole board panel on Friday rejected a similar effort by Lyle Menendez, who has served nearly 35 years in prison with his sibling for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion.
The brothers had been imprisoned without the possibility of parole for the Aug. 20, 1989, killings of Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. The Menendez brothers claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.
In May, however, the brothers were resentenced to 50 years to life, automatically making them eligible for parole consideration because they were younger than 26 when the crime occurred.
Their separate hearings this week come nearly 30 years after the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 for the 1989 killings of their parents. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996.
After a nearly 10-hour hearing Thursday, a parole panel rejected a parole bid by 54-year-old Erik Menendez. Lyle Menendez, 57, hoped for a different fate late on Friday after another marathon day of testimony.
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