Erik and Lyle Menendez‘s legal team will be making its next moves to see the brothers freed after a parole board last week swiftly decided they’d remain in prison. The push comes in the wake of newly leaked audio from Erik’s parole board hearing last week that gives fresh insight into his mindset during the 1989 killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

On Friday evening, Lyle Menendez’s parole request was denied, following the board’s earlier rejection of Erik’s bid. Both hearings were held remotely, with the brothers appearing via video link from the San Diego prison where they have been incarcerated for years of their decade in prison. Their life sentences were reduced earlier this year to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole after a drawn-out legal battle with Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman ended in an L.A. judge ruling for the reduction. 

Despite the wave of grassroots support fueled by TikTok reexaminations of their case and sympathy toward the brothers’ long-held claims of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father Jose, release on parole on their first attempt was always a long shot. 

“This denial … it’s not the end,” Parole Commissioner Julie Garland told Lyle Menendez. “It’s a way for you to spend some time to demonstrate, to practice what you preach about who you are, who you want to be.”

The board cited several disciplinary issues in prison, including contraband burner cell phones, past drug possession, and Erik’s involvement in a tax fraud scheme. Commissioners also referenced the 1989 killings, which have returned to the spotlight thanks to a controversial Netflix dramatization Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, as well as multiple documentaries.

In the leaked audio of Erik Menendez’s hearing that aired on AVC7 on Friday, he is heard describing the chaotic moment when he entered the Beverly Hills den where the murders occurred.

“I was in a state of terror, of panic, of rage, and I didn’t parse out in my mind my mother, my father,” he told the board. “I ran in because fear was compelling me.”

Other clips captured Erik’s reflections on being raised without moral guidance “In my family, stealing wasn’t what was frowned upon,” he said. “Getting caught was what was frowned upon by my father.”

The brothers will next be eligible for parole in three years—though that window could shrink to 18 months if they maintain perfect behavior.

Another possible avenue lies with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has the power to grant clemency. Earlier this year, he ordered a risk assessment of the brothers to determine whether they posed an “unreasonable risk to public safety.” On his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, the governor cautioned that while the review ensures transparency and due diligence, “there’s no guarantee of outcome here.”

Newsom — who is among the Democratic frontrunners to run for president in 2028 — and his role in this case is being closely watched, In 2022, he famously blocked the release of Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan, saying the inmate lacked the insight to prevent future dangerous behavior.

Meanwhile, Erik and Lyle Menendez still have a pending habeas corpus petition seeking either a new trial or the overturning of their convictions. The petition hinges on new evidence: a letter Erik wrote to his late cousin describing abuse, and the testimony of a former Menudo member who alleged sexual abuse by Jose Menendez in the 1980s.

In July, Judge Thomas Ryan found the brothers had presented sufficient evidence to move forward and ordered Los Angeles prosecutors to show why the petition should not be granted. Journalist Robert Rand, who has chronicled the case for decades, told The Hollywood Reporter that evidentiary hearings are likely this fall—though, he added, “it could all end tomorrow.”

“Everybody can play the game for 18 months,” Rand said. “Or Newsom can just shut it down. This case was very political in the ’90s, and here we are today, 36 years later, and it’s still very political.”