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Erik Menendez was denied parole after spending over 30 years in prison this week. A California parole board found Erik, who was convicted with his brother Lyle for the 1989 slayings of their parents, still to be “an unreasonable risk to public safety.”

The nearly 10-hour parole hearing considered Erik’s record of rehabilitation, conduct in prison, and reasons to grant or deny parole. Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office representatives recommended the board deny his parole, while over a dozen family members testified in support. The board ultimately agreed with prosecutors, citing Erik’s past crimes as a teen, the violent nature of the double murder, and “serious violations” of prison rules.

Erik, now in his 50s, will be eligible for parole again in three years. Explaining the decision, Parole Commissioner Robert Barton made clear the ruling was based on more than the original crimes, but also on Erik’s conduct in prison.

“One can pose a risk to public safety in many ways with many types of criminal behavior, including those you were guilty of in prison,” Barton told Erik. He then asked Erik to more fully embrace his “great support network” if he wished to avoid future violations.

Erik has had nine “rule violations” while incarcerated. They include drug use and possessing contraband, including a cell phone and a lighter. Erik, whose supporters have described as a “model inmate” with several letters of support from correctional officers, was asked how that title could be squared with the infractions. He said he only started to believe he had a chance at release last year, and that his “consequential thinking changed” because of that.

Supportive family members testified, many of them in tears. They spoke of the pain and rift the killings caused for three decades, but also forgiveness. “To say that our family has experienced pain does not quite capture what the last 35 years have been like,” Tiffani Lucero-Pastor, the great-niece of the Menendez brothers’ mother, Kitty, said. “It has divided us. It has caused us panic and anxiety.”

Others said Kitty’s lack of response to the abuse Erik and Lyle said they faced at home only compounded the brothers’ fear. Karen Mae Vandermolen-Copley, Kitty’s niece, said her aunt’s “absence of protection deepened their fear and confusion.” Kitty’s brother, Milton Andersen, was the only relative believed to have opposed Erik’s parole and died earlier this year.

The family gave a statement after the decision, saying they were both disappointed and respected the board’s decision. “Our belief in Erik remains unwavering,” the statement read. “His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he can return home soon.”

Lyle Menendez to Face Parole Hearing, Governor Has Final Say

Erik’s older brother, Lyle Menendez, will next face the parole board. His parole hearing is set for Friday, with the board to consider his rehabilitation record and prison conduct. Lyle has accrued slightly fewer disciplinary violations than Erik, but his conduct during the killings may prove a sticking point.

At the original 1993 trial, Lyle testified that he fired multiple shotgun blasts at both parents at close range. Barton this week said their mother’s death was “devoid of human compassion.”

Lyle has also struggled with inconsistencies in his narrative of their father’s alleged abuse. At one point, prosecutors alleged he asked his girlfriend to lie and say his father had drugged and raped her. That detail, along with his more extensive role in the killings, may complicate his own parole bid, despite family members who also plan to speak on his behalf.

The parole hearings follow both brothers being resentenced in May from life without parole to 50 years to life, for the first time making them eligible for parole. The case has been one of the most famous murder trials in California history, marked by the brothers’ claims that they acted in fear of years of abuse. Prosecutors have always pointed to the killings as financially motivated, saying the brothers killed their father for his fortune.

Governor Gavin Newsom has final say over their ultimate fate. Under a 1988 state law, the governor may approve, deny, or modify parole board decisions of those convicted of murder and sentenced to an indeterminate term. The board’s decision this week and next will now go through an internal review process that may take up to 120 days, after which Newsom has 30 days to act.