Erik Mendez will remain in prison. A Los Angeles surveillance court denied the freedom to the minor of the two brothers sentenced for the murder of the parents, committed in August 1989 in the family villa of Beverly Hills.
After a hearing lasting all day, the commissioners judged Mensendez “still a risk for the company”, especially in the light of his conduct in prison, where he was from the arrest in January 1990.
“August 21 is the day when my family discovered that my parents had died, the beginning of their trauma path,” said Erik, connected by videoconference from the San Diego prison. Today 53 years old, he tried to demonstrate that he has changed behind bars, speaking of faith, sobriety and activities in support of the older prisoners. But the commission has listed a series of infringements: from the use of the cell phone “in an selfish way, as if the rules for him did not value”, to collaborations with bands, drug trafficking, disciplinary violations and even a fiscal fraud scheme. Over ten relatives intervened in his favor, including Aunt Teresita Mendez-Baralt, cancer patient, who said he had forgiven him and wanting to welcome him to the house.
At the end of a highly media process, the two scions were recognized guilty of voluntary murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without conditional in 1996. The court welcomed the version of the prosecutors, according to which the brothers aimed at the millionaire legacy of the father, a big piece of the record industry. The defense, on the other hand, claimed that the two, 21 and 18 years old at the time, had acted after decades of violence and sexual abuse inflicted on the father and covered by the mother.
After a long battle of the family for the revision of the case, returned to the limelight also thanks to the Netflix ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Mensendz Story series, a judge of Los Angeles last May reduced their sentence to 50 years, as they were less than 26 years old at the time of crime, making them eligible for supervised freedom. The opposite opinion of the Board of Words Hearings barred the way to release. Only in three years the defenders will be able to submit the request again. On Friday the older brother Lyle will appear before the same court.