Like his brother Erik before him, a California parole board has declined to give Lyle Menendez freedom.

In back-to-back decisions that came days after the 36th anniversary of their parents infamous shooting deaths, both Menendez brothers lost their chance at freedom, largely over contraband cellphones they used behind bars.

"The panel has found today that there are still signs" that Lyle Menendez poses a risk to the public, the California Board of Parole Hearings announced late on Friday, Aug. 22, following a day-long hearing.

Before the board’s decision, Lyle spoke of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of both his parents but took responsibility “for all this pain.”

“My mom and dad did not have to die that day,” Lyle, 57, said of the Aug. 20, 1989 shotgun killings. “I’m profoundly sorry for who I was … for the harm that everyone has endured.”

Parole Commissioner Julie Garland said in the announcement of the parole denial that the board believes Lyle Menendez is sorry for the murders of his parents. But she said he still shows signs of anti-social behavior.

"We find your remorse is genuine. In many ways, you look like you've been a model inmate. You have been a model inmate in many ways who has demonstrated the potential for change. But despite all those outward positives, we see ... you still struggle with anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule breaking that lie beneath that positive surface."

She said “incarcerated people who break rules” are more likely to break rules in society.

Ultimately, she said, Lyle Menendez needs to be the person he shows he is in running programs for other inmates. Authorities have said Lyle Menendez mentored other prisoners behind bars and founded the GreenSpace beautification project, which aims to transform prison yards into more normalized, park-like environments.

“Don’t ever not have hope … this denial is not … it’s not the end. It’s a way for you to spend some time to demonstrate, to practice what you preach about who you are, who you want to be,” Garland says. “Don’t be somebody different behind closed doors.”

She says he’ll be considered for an administrative review within one year, and that he could be moved up to a hearing as soon as 18 months.

Here’s what you need to know about the parole hearings and when the Menendez brothers will have another chance to walk out of prison.

Cellphone use key in failed parole attempt

Though it may seem like a minor issue, Deputy Parole Commissioner Patrick Reardon cited Lyle Menendez’s repeated use of contraband cellphones over the years, including when he was sharing a dorm with five other prisoners.

Reardon told Menendez that though he didn’t use a cellphone the inmates shared for criminal activity, any one of them could have used it to order murders, move drugs in the prison or coordinate attacks on officers.

When asked why he felt like he needed a cellphone when he had an approved tablet to communicate with family, Lyle said that prison guards who monitored his communications for security sold them to tabloids.

“I felt like the phone was a way to protect … privacy,” said Lyle, who appeared virtually from the San Diego prison where he is incarcerated.

His attorney, Heidi Rummel, expressed her frustration that the hearing didn’t focus more on Lyle Menendez’s good behavior.

“How many people with a (life without parole) sentence come in front of this board with zero violence, despite getting attacked, getting bullied, and choose to do something different?” she said. “We spent no time at all talking about the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours, Lyle spent following rules in prison.”

Brother Erik denied one day earlier

The board ruled on Aug. 21 that Erik Menendez, 54, was not eligible for parole after a nearly 10-hourlong hearing to decide whether he posed a threat to the public if released from prison. The Menendez brothers were made newly eligible for parole consideration when they were resentenced to 50 years to life in prison under California's youthful offender statutes – the brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the murders.

California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner Robert Barton said that Erik Menendez continued to pose "an unreasonable risk to public safety."

"Contrary to your supporters' beliefs, you have not been a model prisoner and frankly we find that a little disturbing," Barton told Erik Menendez.

Lyle Menendez, 57, will appear virtually in his own parole hearing from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where he is incarcerated. His hearing is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time.

The Menendez brothers were convicted of the gruesome shotgun murders of their wealthy parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. A renewed wave of public support and a long legal fight led to their resentencing in May. They have served about 35 years of their original sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The parole board considers factors including criminal history, behavior while in prison and how an inmate has changed since going to prison. If Lyle Menendez is granted parole, it won't mean immediate freedom. The Board of Parole Hearings' decision would be reviewed by its chief legal counsel, which could take up to 120 days, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Then, Gov. Gavin Newsom would get the final say and has a month to do so, according to state law.

Board criticized Erik Menendez for rule violations while in prison

Erik Menendez was denied parole for three years, the minimum period for reconsideration the board may grant. He can still ask the board to review its decision for any errors of fact that, if corrected, would change the outcome. He could also "petition to advance," meaning that he could appear before the board sooner if circumstances or information point to an inmate being suitable for parole.

Barton said parole was denied in part because Erik Menendez's prison record is “replete” with rule violations including “violence, manipulation, misuse of things … you have criminal acts.”

During the hearing, Erik Menendez acknowledged infractions ranging from writing personal letters on a work device and possessing contraband art supplies to physically fighting with other inmates and helping a prison gang with a tax scheme.

The panel questioned him about his mental state leading up to and during the murder of his parents, particularly about why he decided to kill his mother.

"The manner and the motive for the killings do have some weight in aggravation," Barton said. "The killing of your mother especially showed a lack of empathy and reason.”

What happened in the Menendez brothers murder case?

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the slaying of their wealthy parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. The parents were shot to death in their Beverly Hills home the evening of Aug. 20, 1989.

The conviction came during a retrial, after the first murder trial ended with an undecided jury. To secure a conviction the second time, the brothers' attorneys have argued that substantial evidence of alleged abuse the brothers suffered at the hands of their parents was excluded from the retrial.

In the first trial, the Menendez brothers both testified that their father physically and sexually abused them while their mother emotionally battered them. Their defense attorneys argued that the young men – Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time of the murders – killed their parents in self-defense, believing that their parents were going to kill them to stop them from speaking out about the abuse.

Prosecutors painted the brothers as cold-blooded killers motivated by their parents' vast fortune, and pointed to the spending spree the two went on after the murders while initially denying their involvement and suggesting it could have been a mob hit.

Contributing: N'dea Yancey Bragg and James Powel, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lyle Menendez loses bid for parole, one day after his brother was denied

Reporting by Jeanine Santucci and Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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