Erik Menendez’s Daughter Responds To Dad And Uncle Being Denied Parole

Months after a resentencing made them eligible for parole, both Erik and Lyle Menendez were officially denied a chance at freedom this week. Each brother was given a lengthy hearing to separately present their case, but despite the board praising their efforts to change while behind bars, they were officially denied parole, much to the frustration of their family. Erik’s daughter Talia was especially vocal in her disappointment.

She took to social media the morning after the ruling to say she’s been “let down time and time again.” She pointed out that neither brother has been accused of violence behind bars and said the situation is “deeper” than the surface level. You can see one of the posts on her Instagram stories below…

The context of this post is that the primary cited reason why the brothers were denied parole was because of rules violations while in prison. Each brother was allegedly found with a cell phone, and Erik was implicated in a tax scheme involving a prison gang, which he fully admitted to during the hearing. He said he was worried about his safety. The two brothers were also both accused of having “anti-social personality traits,” which was a factor in keeping them behind bars. Neither has been accused of anything violent in the decades they’ve been locked up.

Both brothers were denied parole but only for the minimum amount of time. They will each have another hearing in three years, or, if prison officials think they’ve made forward progress and haven’t committed any further rules violations, they can bump that date up to eighteen months. Whenever the next hearings happen, expect them to once again be very widely covered by the press.

The Menendez Brothers were accused of and later admitted to murdering their parents back in 1989. Because of the family’s wealth and the grisly nature of the killings, the case attracted immediate national attention. Erik and Lyle were accused of going on a spending spree with their parents’ money, and they were widely painted as cold-blooded. During the trial, they accused their father of physically and sexually abusing them and detailed a long history of problems inside the family.

Recently, the case has attracted renewed attention after Hulu and Netflix dropped very popular documentaries on the brothers, as well as a series created by Ryan Murphy, which some felt was overly negative. Given the length of time they’ve been in prison and society’s evolving views on abuse and sexual assault, many viewers were more sympathetic toward Erik and Lyle than the general public was back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Many family members have also come out in support of the brothers, saying it’s time for their release. Prosecutors, however, have repeatedly pushed back and said the brothers have lied and exaggerated in order to make themselves look more sympathetic.

Talia’s mother Tammi Menendez exchanged letters with Erik while he was in prison, and the two later started meeting in-person. They got married in 1999 and have been together ever since. Erik later adopted her daughter Talia, who he shares a very close bond with.