The Brief

A California state board Thursday denied parole for Erik Menendez, who has been in prison for more than three decades for the 1989 shotgun slayings of his parents in their Beverly Hills home.

The decision was a devastating blow to Menendez, 54, who along with supporters has mounted a campaign for freedom for himself and his brother Lyle over the past couple of years.

After a day-long hearing, a two-member commission from the Board of Prison Terms found Menendez, who has been incarcerated for nearly 35 years, unsuitable for release.

His next opportunity for parole will be in three years.

Commissioner Robert Barton said he and a fellow board member gave the matter significant consideration — "We probably spent four times more than we do on our usual average here" — before reaching their conclusion.

“I believe in redemption or I wouldn’t be doing this job … but based on the legal standards we find that you continue to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety,” Barton said.

While explaining the reasons behind the denial, Barton talked about the murders, and said the fatal shooting of the Menendez's mother showed him to be "devoid of human compassion" at the time. The commissioner also noted some of Menendez's other actions later, including serious violations of prison rules — like getting caught with a cellphone.

“While we give great weight to youth offender factors, your continued willingness to commit crimes and violate prison rules," weighed against Menendez, Barton said.

A reporter who was given access to the hearing said Menendez listened intently to Barton's words, and nodded repeatedly, but appeared visibly hurt by the decision.

Members of the Menendez family, who had supported the brothers' quest for parole, issued a statement late Thursday, saying they respected the decision, but were disappointed. They said their belief in Erik Menendez "remains unwavering."

“His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves," the statement added. "We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he is able to return home soon."

A separate parole hearing for older brother Lyle Menendez, 57, is set for Friday.

"Tomorrow, we turn our attention to Lyle’s hearing," the family said in the statement. "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.”

Background on the case

The decision follows a years-long effort to free Erik and Lyle Menendez. After two high-profile trials, the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the August 1989 shotgun deaths of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

They were originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After their arrests, the brothers maintained the killings were motivated by years of sexual abuse by their father, a wealthy businessman and former music executive.

Prosecutors argued the brothers' motivation was greed because they stood to inherit their father’s multi-million dollar estate.

A combination of two booking photos provided by the California Department of Corrections shows Erik Menendez (left) and Lyle Menendez, now in their 50s.

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The case had drawn new attention in recent years because of a combination of factors, including recent documentaries and dramas that focused on the story and efforts by the Menendez family to see them released.

A key turning point came in May, when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic resentenced the brothers to 50 years to life in prison, giving them a chance at parole.

He said they didn’t pose an unreasonable risk to society.

Testimony about the murders

On Thursday, Erik Menendez appeared from Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego for his hearing. The two parole commissioners appeared over a video conference, as did Menendez's lawyer Heidi Rummel, prosecutors with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and members of the Menendez family.

Erik Menendez described the abject fear he felt toward his father, whom he said sexually abused him, and how his father demanded secrecy.

Barton, one of the commissioners, noted that Menendez was 18 at the time of the murders and could have left home and gone to family members who would have taken him in.

“It’s difficult to convey how terrifying my father was,” Menendez responded.

Barton cited a document in which Erik Menendez wrote he had “no justification” for the killings.

“Is there any part of this which you believe was self defense?” Barton asked.

Menendez said, “No.”

At the same time, Menendez said he said he and his brother’s lives “were in extreme danger immediately" once they confronted their father about the alleged abuse days before the murders.

Erik Menendez, left, and his brother, Lyle, sit in a Beverly Hills courtroom in 1992.

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Speaking about the night of the shootings, Menendez said: “Lyle came to the top of the stairs after my dad ordered me to my room and said he was coming up… my focus was dad’s coming to my room. I can’t let him come to my room."

He said he believed his father was going to come to his room and rape him that night.

"That was going to happen," he said. "One way or another. If he was alive, that was going to happen.”

“Why kill Mom?” Barton asked.

“When mom told me … that she had known all of those years [about the sexual abuse], it was the most devastating moment in my entire life," Menendez said. "It changed everything for me. I had been protecting her by not telling her.

“Step by step, my mom had shown she was united with my dad.”

Menendez was then asked about reloading his shotgun and shooting his mother.

“I wish to God I did not do that,” he said.

Menendez's conduct in prison

Barton asked about various violations Erik Menendez committed in prison, including engaging in a tax fraud scheme for a prison gang. The commissioner also asked about other violations, including getting into a fight, engaging in alcohol and drug use and possessing a cellphone.

Menendez said he motivated by "tremendous fear" in some instances, and was mostly just trying to cope with being in prison. He emphasized he did not use a cellphone for criminal purposes — only to call people he knew and to watch videos.

Barton said Menendez was asked by prison staff in 2016 about his prior relationship with his brother, and Menendez told staff he and his brother never had any problems. Barton called this a “lie.”

Menendez referenced his older brother “molesting [me] as a kid,” and said he withheld that from corrections staff.

His positive work behind bars was mentioned, too, including his work with a hospice group.

Responding to questions from Deputy Commissioner Rachel Stern, Menendez talked about working with a World War II veteran, taking him to meals and helping with his bedding. He said he saw it as a way to make amends for his father.

Menendez said the experience showed him older adults are often bullied in prison. He said he created a “life care and hospice group” to work against that, and he brought in some of the bullies to participate.

His current role, Menendez said, is to get incarcerated people to work with others who are struggling, including those who are disabled or dealing with life-limiting illnesses.

His attorney, Rummel, argued that Menendez was no longer a threat to society.

“This crime, as the rest of the world seems to understand, was driven by extraordinary trauma, physical abuse, emotional abuse and relentless domination by his parents,” she said. “Mr. Menendez is so far from the person he was when he committed this crime.”

DA's office opposes parole

L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian said he applauded Menendez’s achievements in prison — including news that he'd graduated from UCLA in June — and hoped that one day he’d find “redemption.”

“But the real question is did he learn, in all those classes … the most important lesson of all?" Balian asked. "Does he understand the full severity and depravity of his conduct?”

Balian argued that much of Menendez’s improvement was so that he could have a chance to be released. And he pressed Menendez about why he shot his mother, when the brothers' claimed it was their father they feared.

“I was in a state of terror, of panic, of rage," Menendez responded. "I didn’t parse out in my mind my mother or my father. I ran in because fear was compelling me.”

Comments from the Menendez family

In his closing statement, Menendez he wanted to focus on his family’s healing — not his own.

“I just want my family to understand that I am so unimaginably sorry for what I have put them through from Aug. 20, 1989 until this day, and this hearing,” he said. “I know that they have been here for me and they’re here for me today, but I want them to know that this should be about them. It’s about them and if I ever get the chance at freedom I want the healing to be about them.”

More than a dozen members of the extended family attended the hearing to show their support of a parole recommendation.

Teresita Menendez-Baralt, Jose Menendez’s brother, called her nephew a “sweet, gentle soul” who deserved love. She said she wished she could go back in time to protect him.

“I want to make clear that although I love my brother, I have fully forgiven Erik,” she said while crying.

Tiffani Lucero Pastor — who spoke on behalf of Joan Vandermolen — said the 93-year-old doesn't shy away from the fact that Menendez killed her sister, Kitty, but he deserves a second chance at life.

"She is so proud of how he has worked relentlessly on himself, emotionally, spiritually,” Lucero Pastor said.

Natascha Leonardo — Kitty Menendez’s great-niece — said Erik Menendez would be welcome to live with her family in Colorado if he is released.

“We’re not asking you to release Erik into uncertainty," she said. "We’re asking you to release him into a network of love and support.”

During the hearing, Barton confirmed Erik Menendez is experiencing "chronic" health issues related to Crohn’s Disease. He said the board has reviewed his medical records.

What's next?

After the board made its decision Thursday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman issued a statement praising the commissioners' work.

"The Board correctly determined that Erik Menendez’s actions speak louder than words, and that his conduct in prison and current mentality demonstrates that he still poses an unreasonable risk of danger to the community," the statement read. "Importantly, the Board did not bow to public spectacle or pressure, a restraint that upholds the dignity and integrity of the justice system."

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the decision is subject to review by the Parole Board's chief counsel. The decision will became final unless the the board finds the decision was made based on an error or law or of fact.

The board has up to 120 days after the suitability hearing to conduct a review.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has the right to review the board's decision, has up to 30 days to approve, reject or amend the recommendation.

In a separate bid for freedom, the brothers have asked Newsom to grant them clemency.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.