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Erik and Lyle Menendez lived more time behind bars than free.
Since their arrest more than 35 years ago for the double murder of their parents in their Beverly Hills, California, the home, the brothers have received a training, participated in self-help classes and started various support groups for their fellow prisoners.
Their attorneys plan to emphasize their behavior during their time in prison when they argue before a Los Angeles judge on Thursday and Friday for a reduced sentence that could lead to its release.
The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at the ages of 18 and 21 after killing their executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez.
While defense lawyers argued that the brothers acted out of self -defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers had killed their parents for a million dollar heritage.
Former District Attorney George Gascón gave them another chance when he asked the court to consider a new sentence for the brothers, one that would immediately be eligible for parole.
A resentment petition submitted by Gascón’s office gives a detailed view of their time locked up and their attempts at rehabilitation. Both brothers received praise and statements of support from corrections officers who observed their behavior in prison.
The correctional lieutenant Victor Cortes wrote about Lyle’s “extraordinary behavior, a high degree of character and reliability” in a April 2024 memo that supports his resentment.
“As far as I can regard my professional training as a correctional peace officer, Erik Menendez is a rehabilitated man who humbly tries to help those in need,” the officer of the corrections D. Rosario said in a memo of March 2016, according to the petition of the petition.
Gascón’s successor, Nathan Hochman, disagrees. He filed a motion last month to withdraw the request of the reports, and prosecutors argued at last Friday’s trial that they could not support the brothers’ resentment.
Disciplinary records
Lyle was not in a single fight in his thirty years he was in prison, according to prison records that noted that he had to be moved to a site with special needs in 1997, because “he would not fight back if he was attacked.”
Both brothers have the lowest possible risk assessment and raw security risk scores for prisoners serving a life sentence, according to the resentment petition.
Unlike his brother, Erik was quoted for two fights under his eight offenses in prison. Lyle had five offenses, according to the resentment petition. Some of these offenses include possession of a cellphone and smuggling tape such as a lighter or adidas shoes.
Early prison years
During the first few years of his time in prison, Erik completed numerous empathy, anger management and domestic violence programs.
Lyle became involved in leadership roles early and served as representative for prisoners in the prisons in Northern California in 2003, according to the fellow B. Holmes in a 2017 memo cited in the brutal petition.
“He has served in that capacity for more than ten years, and he works productively with the administration to promote a positive programming culture in the Mule Creek State Prison,” Holmes said.
Community support groups
In 2016, Erik supported the support group Life Care and Hospice Connections with the aim of providing support to the elderly and disabled prisoners and the development of more compassion and understanding between them and their peer groups, the resentment petition reads.
“Because even behind bars he believes in compassion and dignity,” his cousin Anamaria Baralt said at a news conference last month.
According to community aid manager Crystal Lopez, Erik wrote the entire curriculum and eventually developed a new 126 -page guide for the program in 2023.
Erik also started two meditation programs and became the main facilitator for alternatives to violence, a workshop for conflict solution in prison. At one point he learned five different classes a week, says the cruel request.
In 2016, Lyle established a program focusing on helping other prisoners understand their trauma for childhood and discussing topics such as experiencing sexual abuse as children, as well as the youth -wicked, a mentoring group of youth offenders with lifelong without any possibility to mentor other youth to their rehabilitation goals.
The Green Space project
At the Richard J. Donovan Corrective Facility in San Diego, Lyle was at the forefront of the Green Space project that started in 2018, which aims to decorate the prison ways to create an environment that is better suited to reducing violence and repetition.
Their project was inspired by the Norwegian approach to incarceration that believes that human prison environments lead to more successful reintegration in society.
“More than 100 prisoners participated, which entrusted the first time the prison administration to lead a prisoner to lead such a redesign,” Baralt said at a virtual news conference in February.
He worked with local companies and all levels of prison administration to raise more than $ 250,000 for the project, and he had a partnership with Guide Dogs of America to raise $ 100,000 for artificial grass, according to the Wretencing Petition.
Erik is the main painter for a massive mural depicting the landmarks of San Diego.
The final product will include outdoor classrooms, rehabilitation group meetings and service dog training areas.
Higher education to
Lyle studied at the University of California earlier this year, Irvine with a Bachelor of Artium in Sociology and previously obtained an associated degree in Sociology. He is currently enrolled in a master’s program where he studies urban planning and repetition, and the Green Space program is part of his Capstone project.
Erik was accepted in UC Irvine for the fall of 2023 and will graduate with a Bachelor of Artium in Sociology in June. For this he obtained co -degrees in sociology and social and behavioral science, as well as a diploma for healthcare assistance.
“They took a very horrible situation, and although they are still in prison, they took that deck of Hards and made it a winning hand for themselves,” their cousin Tamara Goodall said.
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