Nashville – A man from California who collaborated with his brother in a mass murder of their parents in a Los Angeles mansion in 1989 made rare public remarks when he called into a true crime conference from prison, revealing aspirations for freedom despite a life sentence without parole. Joseph Menendez, who goes by his middle name Lyle, and his brother Erik burst into their parents’ Beverly Hills home with shotguns and fired so many shells that one of them had to get another from his car before he returned to deliver the fatal shot to their mother.
The brothers claimed they were afraid their father would kill them after they warned him they would expose him for sexual and physical abuse. Both men were convicted and ordered to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, but are now seeking reduced sentences under a new California law. During an interview with his lawyer Mark Geragos at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Lyle Menendez spoke about his aspirations for life after prison.
I’m hoping that… I’ve had these discussions with corrections officials who are in charge of letting formerly incarcerated people return to the prisons to do good work and they are definitely open to and would like me to continue to work on this idea of transforming prison yards so that it creates living environments and communities that produce better neighbors,” he said on speakerphone in a collect call to News Nation’s Laura Ingle during a panel at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville.
Menendez then revealed that more than two dozen family members have signed a letter requesting the judge to resentence them and shared some of his aspirations for life after prison. He mentioned working on how he might reintegrate with society during an interview with his lawyer Mark Geragos at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville.
Menendez also discussed forming therapy groups with other inmates, as many prisoners had difficult childhoods and come from challenging circumstances. Furthermore, he revealed that he is about to receive a master’s degree in urban planning and hopes to use it to reenter society if he succeeds in receiving a sentence reduction. Lastly, he thanked people who have sent letters of support to him and his brother over the three decades they’ve been incarcerated.
The brothers’ attorneys argue that they should have been convicted of manslaughter, not murder; if so, they would likely already have been released from prison. The brothers are not the only ones who accused their father of abuse. Roy Rossello, a former member of the boy band Menudo, alleged last year that Jose Menendez, then an executive at RCA records, molested him in the early 1980s.
