[Music]
Welcome to News Day. We start with some
breaking news. In the last few minutes,
California's parole board has reached a
decision and has denied parole for Eric
Mendez. He was jailed more than three
decades ago alongside his brother Lyall
for murdering their parents in a case
that shocked America.
Our correspondent Peter Bose is outside
the prison where the parole hearing took
place and he joins us now for more on
this. Peter, the parole has been denied.
Tell us more.
Yes, this was a very long hearing. This
hearing took place via video conference.
So, Eric Menendez remained in his prison
which is just outside of San Diego. And
it was a long day of questioning and and
also statements on his behalf by close
members of his family. But at the end of
the day, the parole board ruling that
they would not grant Eric Mendez parole.
the reasoning given there multiple
reasons we heard from Robert Barton who
was he's the commissioner of the parole
board he was the the chief spokesperson
during the day and he said that Eric
Mendez continued to pose an unreasonable
risk to public safety and that despite
what many had said in his favor he had
not been a model prisoner during the
more than 35 years that he has spent in
jail. He also talked about the murder
itself or the murders of his parents,
specifically talking about his mother,
Kitty Mendez. And he said he described
it as an execution and that uh Mr.
Mendez's behavior, he said, had been
devoid of human compassion. So, there
were multiple reasons why the board gave
this decision to deny parole. It is a a
three-year denial, although it seems as
if Eric Menendez will be allowed to
petition to apply once again for parole
in a shorter period of time.
>> Peter, did this ruling come as a
surprise?
>> It certainly has come as a shock to the
supporters of Eric Mendez in terms of
whether more broadly speaking it is a
surprise. I think people had been kind
of sitting on the fence. This could have
gone either way. But certainly he has
many supporters who will be hugely
disappointed at this because much had
been made of some of the work that he's
been doing in prison working with other
prisoners in terms of rehabilitation.
And in fact, this was given as one of
the reasons why he has been denied
parole. that while working in a
rehabilitation group, he had been
illegally using a mobile phone, a cell
phone that had been smuggled into the
prison. And uh point was made that there
was a certain hypocrisy here that while
he was working with other inmates
supposedly to be model inmates, he
himself was breaking the rules.