Erik Menendez denied parole after 35 years in prison for parents' murder

Erik Menendez, who alongside brother Lyle served 35 years of a life prison term for fatally shooting their parents in 1989, was denied parole on Thursday.

The decision by California parole commissioners was announced after a 10-hour hearing in which Erik Menendez, appearing via video from a San Diego prison, argued that he had been rehabilitated and that setting him free would help heal his family. Several relatives argued in favour of his release.

Members of the California Board of Parole Hearings, however, found that Erik still posed "an unreasonable risk to public safety," Parole Commissioner Robert Barton said, according to a media report.

Barton pointed to violations of prison rules including drug smuggling, cell phone use and episodes of violence in 1997 and 2011. "Contrary to your supporters' beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner and frankly we find that a little disturbing,” Barton said.

The board will consider whether to recommend parole for Lyle on Friday. Erik can apply for parole again in three years.

The brothers said they shot their parents, Jose and Kitty at their home in Beverly Hills in California because they feared for their lives after years of abuse by their father and mother. Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21 at the time. 

Prosecutors argued the killings were coldly calculated and motivated by greed, namely the brothers' desire to inherit their parents' multimillion-dollar fortune.

The brothers have been in custody since March 1990 and originally sentenced in 1996 to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

In May, a judge handed each a new sentence of 50 years to life. Under California law, the pair became immediately eligible for parole because they were under age 26 at the time of the crimes and had already served more than half their prison term.

Family members have supported the brothers' release, saying the pair have paid their debt to society. Erik is now 54 and Lyle is 57, with both married.