Erik Menendez was denied release during his first-ever parole hearing on Thursday, having spent decades in prison along with his brother, Lyle, for the brutal murder of their parents back in 1989.

A parole hearing for Lyle Menendez is set for Friday morning, where a California board could decide that he is eligible for release.

The Menendez brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without parole. But earlier this year, a L.A. Superior Court judge reduced their prison sentences to 50 years to life, which made them eligible for parole.

In response to the judge’s decision to deny Erik’s request for parole, the Menendez family said in a statement on Thursday that “while we respect the decision, today’s outcome was, of course, disappointing and not what we hoped for. But our belief in Erik remains unwavering, and we know he will take the Board’s recommendation in stride. His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he is able to return home soon.”

“[Friday], we turn our attention to Lyle’s hearing,” the statement continued. “And while it is undoubtedly difficult, we remain cautiously optimistic and hopeful that the commissioner will see in Lyle what so many others have: a man who has taken responsibility, transformed his life, and is ready to come home.”

What happened at Erik Menendez’s hearing?

Erik Menendez appears before the parole board via teleconference on Thursday at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. (California Department of Corrections via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Erik, 54, attended the nearly 10-hour parole hearing via videoconference on Thursday from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where he and his brother, Lyle, 57, are being held.

The California board assessed whether Erik poses an “unreasonable risk of danger to society” if released, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. They took into account his behavior in prison, the burglaries he took part in before killing his parents, and the brutal murder of his mother.

The board ultimately decided that Erik will be eligible for parole in three years, despite strong support for immediate release from the Menendez brothers’ family members. Commissioner Robert Barton said the main reason for denying his release is not due to the seriousness of the crime, but his behavior in prison.

“Contrary to your supporters’ beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner, and frankly, we find that a little disturbing,” Barton said. He noted Erik’s inappropriate behavior with visitors, drug smuggling, misuse of state computers, violent incidents and the use of an illegal cellphone.

“We find that you continue to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety,” Barton said.

When is Lyle Menendez’s hearing?

Booking photos of Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez. (California Department of Corrections via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Lyle Menendez’s parole suitability hearing is set for Friday at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT. He will also appear via videoconference from the prison in San Diego.

The hearing will be conducted by a panel of two or three board members, who will consider factors like Lyle’s criminal history, his behavior in prison and a statement from Lyle, family members, the district attorney’s office and the public. A hearing typically takes two to three hours to complete.

It will not be televised, and no audio or video recordings are permitted. An assigned pool reporter will be allowed to observe the hearing and distribute updates during specified breaks.

The murders and the trials

Lyle and Erik Menendez in a Beverly Hills courtroom in 1990. (Kevork Djansezian/AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Erik and Lyle Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, with shotguns at their Beverly Hills mansion on Aug. 20, 1989.

They initially denied the killings, telling police they suspected the slayings were related to Jose Menendez’s work as an entertainment executive. They were arrested in March 1990.

At trial three years later, the brothers testified they killed their parents in self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, about which they said their mother was aware.

Prosecutors argued that their motive for the killings was a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

They were tried twice. A mistrial was declared in 1994 due to a hung jury. In 1996, Erik and Lyle were convicted on first-degree murder charges and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Many details of the alleged sexual abuse they experienced were not permitted during the retrial.

In 1998, a California appeals court upheld their convictions. Subsequent appeals to the higher courts were also denied.

The Netflix series and a fight for freedom

Erik and Lyle Menendez in front of their Beverly Hills home in an undated photo. (Getty Images) (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The case was thrust back into the public eye last year thanks to the hit Netflix drama series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

Last fall, then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended that the brothers be resentenced, saying, “I believe they have paid their debt to society.”

Gascón said he thought that Erik and Lyle, who are now 54 and 57 years old, respectively, had rehabilitated themselves while incarcerated, earning advanced degrees, participating in self-help classes and creating various support groups for their fellow inmates. Gascón also said his office was reviewing new evidence that their attorneys said corroborated the allegations of sexual abuse.

He recommended that their sentence be reduced from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole under California law because they were younger than 26 when they committed the killings. (Erik was 18; Lyle was 21.)

The Beverly Hills home where José and Mary Louise Menendez were killed. (Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images) (Bob Riha Jr via Getty Images)

But Gascón’s successor, Nathan Hochman, opposed resentencing, saying that the brothers had failed to take “complete responsibility” for the double murder, including their initial claim that they did not kill their parents.

“These murders were calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded killings,” Hochman said in a statement on April 11. “Our position remains clear: Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”

In May, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduced their sentences to 50 years to life after a resentencing hearing, which included testimony from relatives, a retired judge, a former fellow inmate and the brothers themselves.

“I committed an atrocious act,” Erik Menendez told Jesic. “I have no excuse, no justification for what I did.”

“I killed my mom and dad,” Lyle Menendez told the judge. “I give no excuses. I take full responsibility.”

What’s next?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) (Mario Tama via Getty Images)

After the parole hearings, the board will issue a written decision recommending whether or not they should be granted parole.

If the board recommends parole be granted, the decision is subject to review by the board’s legal division and California Gov. Gavin Newsom before becoming final.

The board’s chief legal counsel has up to 120 days to review the decision, according to the parole board.

If approved by the counsel, the decision will be turned over to Newsom, who has an additional 30 days to decide whether to accept, reject or modify it.

If Newsom accepts the board’s decision to grant parole, they’d be eligible for release immediately.

However, if the board denies them parole, the brothers would have to wait at least three years for the panel to reconsider their case.

Earlier this year, Newsom ordered a risk assessment investigation for the parole board to determine whether the brothers pose a public safety threat if released.

“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said on his podcast in February. “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis, but this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case.”