LOS ANGELES (OC).–Denied parole for all the wrong reasons, 57-year-old Lyle Mendez and 54-year-old Erik Mendez will continue in long-term confinement, spending the last 35 years in California prison for the murder of the parents Aug. 20, 1989. When you consider that Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time, the life sentence, regardless of the crimes, makes no sense. Los Angeles District Atty. Nathan Hochman, 61, fought to keep both the brothers behind bars, claiming they haven’t demonstrated sufficient remorse for killing their parents. Both brothers claim they were being sexually abused by their father Jose Mendendez, something vigorously rejected as a defense by Hochman and former District Atty. Ira Reiner. But whether or not Hochman believes anything the Mendendez brothers say, the fact is they were barely adults when they committed the grisly crimes that mezmorized the nation.
So when Hochman argues that the boys have never come to grips with the magnitude of the crimes, essentially making more excuses talking about sex abuse, Hochman misses the point that both young men were barely adults. When they blamed the killings on some phatom killer, then eventually pled their case at trial with defense Atty. Leslie Abramson, they raised the sex abuse defense that didn’t over with the jury. Spending 11 hours by video-link in their patrol hearings, the board noted violations of prison rules by using unauthorized cell phones. Other than that, the two brothers have been model prisoners, spending the last 35 years thinking about the shotgun deaths of their parents. “What I got in terms of the phone and my connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequence of me getting caught with the phone,” said Eirk Mendendez.
Erik Mendendez committed the more egregious violations associating himself with a prison gang Two Fivers, saying he needed the protection in an “extremely violent yard,” where routine stabbing occurred daily. “I was in tremendous fear,” Erik said. “When the Two Fivers came asked for help, I thought this was a great opportunity to align myself with them and to survive,” a perfectly reasonable, honest explanation, not evidence he possesses an antisocial personality, someone who can’t stop lying. Parole commissioner Julie Garland said Lyle showed “antisocial personality traits like deception, minimization, and rule breaking that lie beneath the positive surface,” Garland said. Garland is not a prison psychiatris and shouldn’t throw around clinical terms without appropriate training. Garland said prisoners like these are more likely to break rules in society.
Parole commissioners can’t wrap their heads around why they killed their mother Kitty, when their father Jose was the one committing the abuse. But re-lititgating a trial that happened 36 years ago was not appropriate for parole board commissioners. If they wanted to stick to behavior in prison that was one thing but going back to defense arguments war not appropriate. Commissioner Barton couldn’t fathom why the two post-teenagers killed their mother. “I can’t put myself in your place. I don’t know that I’ve ever had rage to that level ever,” said commissioner Richard Barton. “But that is still concerning, especially since it seems she was also a victim herself of domestic violence,” Barton said. Barton said both brothers tried to cover-up the crime, blaming it on a phantom killer. Barton questioned why the boys would be so callous to their violent crimes.
When it comes to parole hearings, you’d think there would be testimony from experts about the role an immature prefrontal cortex played in the boys horrific judgment at the time. No one talks about the fact that the boys were still teenagers which, under normal circumstances, would fall under the juvenile court system. Lyle and Erik were tried as adults, something the commissioners seek to hold them to the adult standard. But it you look at the age of 18 and 21 at the time of the murders, you’d think the focus of the parole board would be strictly to rehab in prison. Because if you went on the tender age exemption, you’d have to cut the two brothers some slack for exercising such erratic judgment in 1989. Whatever they did in prison with cell phones, both told the Parole Board that they neede to be in touch with their wives because of family matters.
Lyle and Erik Mendenz were barely adults when they concocted their scheme to get back at their parents. Over the last 35 years, they’ve paid their dues to society, while not perfect, have shown an exemplary record with few exceptions. Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the Parole Board to conduct a risk assessment for releasing them into society even with parole officers and strict monitoring. “I want ot make clear that although I love my brother, I nave fully forgiven Erik,” said Aunt Teresita Menendez-Baralt, Jose’s sister. “Erik carries himself with kindness, integrity and strength that comes from patience and grace,” not believing that he or Lyle are a threat to anyone. But to the Parole Board, they dredged up old issues presented at trial, no longer relevant to a crime that was committed nearly 36-years-ago. Patrol Boards should take their age into consideration at the time of the crime.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’d editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
