Erik Menendez was denied parole during his first-ever parole hearing on Thursday, 36 years and one day after he and his brother killed their parents.

Erik Menendez made his case to two parole commissioners, offering his most detailed account in years of how he was raised, why he made the choices he did, and how he transformed in prison. He noted the hearing fell almost exactly 36 years after he killed his parents — on Aug. 20, 1989.