Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the Menendez brothers will have a hearing before the parole board in June, a key step in the siblings’ bid for clemency in the 1989 double murder of their parents.
Erik and Lyle Menendez, who have been behind bars for more than 30 years, have recently renewed their fight for freedom, arguing that new evidence shows they were sexually abused by their father, Jose Menendez.
Newsom said on his podcast Tuesday that the board would hold independent hearings for each brother on June 13 and then file a report assessing whether they would pose a risk to society if released.
“We will submit that report to the judge for the resentencing,” said Newsom, “and that will weigh into our independent analysis of whether or not to move forward with the clemency application to support a commutation of this case.”
In addition to asking for clemency from the governor, the brothers are also pursuing a resentencing hearing that could potentially downgrade their sentences and make them eligible for early release.
But on Monday, L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman threw a wrench in that plan by announcing his opposition to a new sentence.
Former Dist. Atty. George Gascón last year recommended that a court reconsider the brothers’ prior sentences of life without the possibility of parole, instead giving them 50 years to life. The move could have made them eligible for immediate parole.
But Hochman filed a motion Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court to rescind Gascón’s request, presenting an analysis of the facts of the case that is far less favorable to the brothers and raises questions about the validity of their self-defense claims.
“The Menendez brothers have continued to lie for over 30 years about their self-defense — that is, their purported actual fear that their mother and their father were going to kill them the night of the murders,” Hochman wrote in the motion. “Also, over those 30 years, they have failed to accept responsibility for the vast number of lies they told in connection with that defense.”
Last month, Hochman also announced his opposition to a third possible avenue to freedom for the brothers — a habeas corpus petition filed by the Menendez defense team seeking a new trial.
The attorneys argue that new evidence bolsters allegations that the brothers were victims of sexual assault and might have changed a jury verdict. This includes a letter that Erik Menendez wrote about the sexual abuse he endured as a teenager prior to committing the killings as well as claims brought forward by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who said he too was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman asked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, saying that the act of murder was the issue in the conviction, not the sexual abuse allegations. The brothers would have to have had an imminent fear that their parents would kill them over the sexual abuse revelations for the murders to be considered self-defense, he added.
Newsom has made it clear that he is still interested in reviewing the brothers’ clemency bid.
In February, the governor requested that the parole board conduct an assessment into whether the Menendezes would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety if they were released.
“There is no guarantee of outcome here,” he said on his podcast in February. “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis, but this [assessment] process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case.”
Newsom has said he will make a decision on their clemency request after reviewing the risk assessment report.
