Menendez Brothers' Clemency Decision On Hold Until LA's New DA Weighs In: Newsom

LOS ANGELES, CA — Gov. Gavin Newsom said he'll defer to incoming Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on the question of whether Lyle and Erik Menendez deserve to be let out of prison, suggesting that the new prosecutor will have great power in deciding the brothers' fate.

Current District Attorney George Gascón last month requested that a judge re-sentence the brothers, who are serving life without parole for the murder of Jose and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion. That was just one piece of a multi-pronged campaign to get the brothers out of prison — they also petitioned the governor for clemency; Gascón wrote a letter in support of that request.

While Gascón has proven himself to be a strong supporter of the Menendezes' cause, he lost his reelection bid this month to Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who campaigned on a platform of being tougher on crime than Gascón. Rather than pick up where Gascón left off, Hochman told ABC News he needs to "actually do the work myself" on the Menendez case.

And Newsom plans to wait for the results of that work.

"The governor respects the role of the district attorney in ensuring justice is served and recognizes that voters have entrusted district attorney-elect Hochman to carry out this responsibility," Newsom's office said in a statement Monday. "The governor will defer to the DA-elect's review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions."

The governor has broad power to grant clemency under the state Constitution, including commutations of sentence and pardons. But that's just one avenue the Menendez brothers' legal team is pursuing.

While Gascón's has shown support for revising the Menendez case in light of new evidence supporting their claims their father, Jose Menendez, sexually abused them — he says his own office has been divided on whether they deserve freedom. Hochman's review of the case will likely include input from staffers who disagree with Gascón and be informed by his own perspective — he has criticized Gascón's policies as being "pro-criminal" in general.

“Once I take office on Dec. 3, I look forward to putting in the hard work to thoroughly review the facts and law of the Menendez case, including reviewing the confidential prison files, the transcripts of the two trials and the voluminous exhibits, as well as speaking with the prosecutors, defense attorneys and victim family members,” Hochman said in a statement on Monday.

Gascón last month requested that a judge resentence the brothers, who have spent 34 years behind bars. He recommended to the court the brothers' original sentence — life without parole — be removed and that they be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Because the brothers were under 26 when the crime occurred, they would immediately be eligible for youthful parole. If the judge agrees, the Menendezes could be eligible for parole "immediately," Gascón said — a parole board would decided whether the brothers have been rehabilitated and should be released.

Gascón cited the brothers' leadership in prison as one of the reasons they deserve a shot at parole. Despite having no hope of ever getting out of prison, they spent their time behind bars working to make other people's lives better, he said. Notably, they created groups to help inmates deal with untreated trauma and advocated for inmates with physical disabilities and pursued education, Gascón said.

A hearing for the resentencing request is set for Dec. 11, while another hearing on Nov. 25 concerns another proposal — a habeas corpus petition that includes a request that the murder convictions be vacated and the brothers be resentenced on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, KCAL reported.

Hochman said he may ask the court to delay the Dec. 11 hearing. "If we need some additional time to formulate our position, I'll ask the court for it," he told ABC.

The efforts all center around a campaign by the brothers' attorneys and their family members for another look at the case as new evidence has surfaced they say supports the brothers' long-held claim that their father had sexually abused them before they gunned down him and their mother.

The effort is supported by a change in how society views boys as victims of sexual abuse and renewed advocacy around the case fueled by social media content creators and a new documentary, members of the Menendez family say.

The evidence includes a letter written by Erik Menendez to his cousin eight months before the killing and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, that he was also sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager, their attorney says.

The Menendez brothers were tried twice after the first trial ended in a hung jury. During the second trial, prosecutors argued there was no evidence of sexual abuse, and details of the brothers' claims were not permitted in the second trial, ending in their conviction. Prosecutors at the time argued that the Erik and Lyle Menendez sought to profit from their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

The brothers — now 56 and 53 — never denied carrying out the killings, but maintained they feared for their lives amid their father's abuse.

Gascón's efforts in the case came as made decisions on several controversial cases in the weeks leading up to the election that he lost by about 10 points, according to the latest preliminary results.

His office was divided on the Menendez matter, he said last month.

"We don't have a universal agreement. There are people in the office that strongly believe that the Menendez brothers should stay in prison the rest of their lives and they do not believe they were molested," Gascón said. "And there are people in the office who believe they should be released immediately and that they were molested."

He said it is "very possible" that members of his office may present arguments against resentencing to the court.

Hochman hasn't offered a strong indication of his views on the case, though he called into question the timing of Gascón's efforts, calling them politically motivated.

"We owe it to the Menendez brothers, we owe it to the victim family members, we owe it to the public to get this decision right," Hochman told ABC.

Mark Geragos, the Menendez brothers' attorney, said he was hopefully optimistic.

“Everybody who has reviewed the files have come to the same conclusion,” Geragos said in an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News. “I would imagine as a reasonable man, (Hochman) will come to the same conclusion that all reasonable people have – that they should be out.”