Menendez Brothers’ Possible Release Delayed Past Thanksgiving as Gov. Newsom Punts Clemency Decision
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided to allow the incoming Los Angeles district attorney to weigh in on the clemency requests for Erik and Lyle Menendez, further delaying the potential release of the brothers who shot their parents dead and were tried in the 1990s and have been serving life in prison.
On Monday, Newsom announced the decision to allow incoming D.A. Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, time to look at the clemency case that has captured major public attention following the success of Netflix’s Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story amid a TikTok movement that renewed interest in the decades-old case. The Ryan Murphy-produced series brought a tsunami of controversy over some decisions about the writing and dramatic elements included in the show, particularly with its depiction of the brothers’ relationship. But it also surged interest around the push to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez, now in their 50s, so much so that outgoing District Attorney George Gascón cited the public outreach to his office as part of the reasoning behind his decision to support clemency.
“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,” read Newsom’s statement on Monday. “The Governor will defer to the D.A.-elect’s review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions.”
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Hochman said in a statement on Monday that he plans to review the case as soon as he has replaced Gascón.
“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,” he said.
Gascón, whom voters kicked out of office on Nov. 5 after two tumultuous terms and multiple bruising recall attempts, had bolstered the process to free the brothers, who admitted to killing their parents but who have been model inmates for nearly three decades. Gascón, who was criticized for being soft on crime but hailed for moves meant to reduce the prison population, wrote a letter to the judge overseeing the Menendez case, telling him they should be free. The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, veered their case toward a clemency release and not the lengthier habeas corpus hearing avenue they were attempting to use to gain their freedom before the release of Murphy’s hit TV series.
Before the introduction of a petition for clemency entering the picture, Gascón asked the judge to resentence the Menendez brothers, who were convicted of first-degree murder at a second, joint trial and sentenced to life in prison without parole. A groundswell of support for the brothers began on TikTok several years ago as new evidence and a victim coming forward supported the brothers’ claims that they had been sexually assaulted by their father, RCA executive José Menendez; their mother, Kitty Menendez, subjected them to verbal and emotional abuse and likely had full knowledge of the sexual molestation of her boys and did nothing stop it.
Their story was also further renewed with Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers documentary and a recent Peacock documentary, Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, executive produced by trial journalist Robert Rand, that featured a member of the 1980s boy band Menudo coming forward as a victim of José Menendez. Rand then came across a letter from Erik sent to his cousin before the murders that indicated the abuse had happened. At the second combined trial, testimony related to the abuse was largely excluded.
Gascón has said publicly that since the series dropped on Netflix, his office has received a deluge of calls asking for the Menendez brothers to be freed and, having decided a shot at freedom was in order, sped up the review that had been ongoing in his office. Speaking recently on his Politickin’ podcast, Newsom also admitted that the series played a role in his decision to look at their case.
Newsom’s move will delay the Menendez brothers’ possible release past Thanksgiving, a release date that Geregos seemed to guarantee as the clemency route moves forward. Erik’s wife, Tammy Menendez, in reaction to the news, chimed in with her frustration on Tuesday.
“It sounds like this case is being used for political maneuvering rather than focusing on the real issues at hand,” she wrote on X. “It’s frustrating when important matters become pawns in a larger game.”
Rand commented on the situation while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, drawing a parallel with the L.A. politics that he says made collateral damage of the Menendez brothers during their second trial when their fates became mired in the tension between L.A. County D.A.’s Ira Reiner and Gil Garcetti.
Before the brothers’ 1995 trial, Reiner and Garcetti had lost a string of high-profile cases, from the McMartin Preschool trial, that of the LAPD officers accused of beating Rodney King (igniting the city’s 1992 riots) and O.J. Simpson’s trial of the century.
“Unfortunately, Erik and Lyle Menendez are still submerged in the murky world of California politics in 2024, [now] between D.A. George Gascón, D.A-elect Nathan Hochman, and Gov. Gavin Newsom,” Rand told THR. “Hopefully, Superior Court Judges Michael Jesic’s ruling on Gascóns’ resentencing recommendation and William Ryan’s ruling on the habeas petition will sort through the clutter and send the Menendez brothers home to their wives and family. [Despite] believing they would never be free men, Lyle and Erik Menendez chose a path of redemption and being of service to their inmate community. After nearly 35 years incarcerated, they should be let out. The Menendez case needs to end.”
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