Erik Menendez’s Daughter Talia Reacts to Lyle Menendez Being Denied Parole: ‘You Can All Judge Me’

“We will not stop until they are free. Our fight is not over,” Talia wrote on Instagram

Talia Menendez; Lyle Menendez.Credit : Apu Gomes/Getty;  California Department of Corrections/HANDOUT/EPA/Shutterstock

Erik Menendez’s daughter, Talia Menendez, is speaking out after Lyle Menendez was denied parole.

Talia, who is Erik’s stepdaughter from his marriage to Tammi Menendez, is renewing her plea for the Menendez brothers’ release after a California parole board denied Lyle, 57, parole one day after Erik, 54, was also denied parole.

On her Instagram Stories, Talia wrote that she was “praying for my uncle Lyle” after he “got the same verdict” as Erik. She said she was “extremely saddened” by the parole board’s decision and alleged that it was a “complete setup from the inside.”

“You can all judge me for being angry,” she wrote. “I’m standing on 10 toes for our family … We will not stop until they are free. Our fight is not over.”

Talia Menendez’s Instagram Stories post reacting to Erik and Lyle Mendendez being denied parole.Talia Menendez/Instagram

In a follow-up post on her Instagram Stories, Talia explained that “people can have different views of this being a win or not.”

She also said that she has “been let down time and time again” and that this had been the “highest her hopes had been” for Erik and Lyle to be freed — especially since they were “getting older and older.”

Talia added that the brothers have shown “no violence” during their time behind bars and stressed her desire to see real action taken to set them free.

“Things start to change. This is deeper than surface level. Enough is enough,” Talia wrote, concluding her message with a tornado emoji.

Anamaria Baralt, the Menendez brothers’ cousin, also spoke out on Instagram on Friday, Aug. 22, following the news that they were both denied parole.

She said she was still hopeful that their case would be reviewed if they continued their good behavior in jail, and that they would be able to “get in front of the parole board” again “within 18 months.”

Lyle Menendez appearing before the parole board via teleconference at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, Calif., on Aug. 22, 2025.California Department of Corrections/HANDOUT/EPA/Shutterstock

“Overall, it was a pretty disappointing week for us, but we’re — this is not a long time,” Baralt said in a video. “The fact that we are making progress and we have these hearings, and yes there was a denial — and it was intensely disappointing — but at the same time, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.”

Lyle and Erik’s recent parole hearings came more than three decades after they were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in August 1989 in their $5 million Beverly Hills, Calif., home.

Erik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle (R) listen during a pre-trial hearing on Dec. 29, 1992.VINCE BUCCI/AFP via Getty

The brothers claimed they acted in self-defense because they feared for their lives, alleging that José had sexually abused them both for years with Kitty’s knowledge, and that José had threatened to kill them if they told anyone.

After the murders, prosecutors said the brothers’ motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the slayings.

Lyle and Erik were initially sentenced to life in prison without parole. However, a judge resentenced the brothers to 50 years to life in May, making them immediately eligible for parole because they were under 26 at the time of the murders — as Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18.