Lyle Menendez, 57, was denied parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of his parents one day after his younger brother Erik, 54, was also denied. Parole officials questioned Menendez about attempts to get witnesses to lie during the trials, the lavish shopping sprees taken after the killings, and whether he felt relief following the murders. Menendez described feeling shame over lying to grieving relatives and said he sought to suffer rather than feel relief. He said he once felt like a protector of his brother but realized the murders did not rescue him and instead destroyed his brother's life. The hearing was disrupted after audio of Erik's parole hearing was released publicly; relatives and the brothers' attorney accused the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of leaking the audio, and the agency said the audio was "erroneously" issued in response to a records request.
"I felt this shameful period of those six months of having to lie to relatives who were grieving," Menendez told the board. "I felt the need to suffer. That it was no relief."
"I sort of started to feel like I had not rescued my brother," he said. "I destroyed his life. I'd rescued nobody."
A CDCR spokesperson confirmed the audio was "erroneously" issued in response to a records request, but did not elaborate or immediately respond to additional questions from The Times.
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