The California governor has ordered the state parole board to examine whether the Menendez brothers would pose a risk to the public if they are released from prison – which could offer an avenue to freedom for the siblings who have been behind bars for almost three decades.
Attorneys for Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, reported on Wednesday that the board will complete a “comprehensive risk assessment” to determine if the brothers have in fact been rehabilitated since the 1989 killing of their parents.
The announcement came days after Los Angeles’s new district attorney announced that he does not believe they deserve a new trial. His predecessor had recommended resentencing the pair, arguing they had paid their debt to society.
Mark Geragos and Cliff Gardner, the brothers’ attorneys, praised Gavin Newsom’s decision.
“This initial step reflects the governor’s considered decision to at least obtain the information required to make a fair decision as to whether Erik and Lyle, after 35 years in prison, have done the hard work necessary to have a chance at a life outside prison,” the attorneys said.
The development represents the latest twist and turn in the legal saga of the Menendez brothers, who have said for decades that they killed their parents in self-defense after years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse by their father.
Erik and Lyle were convicted in 1996 of the murders of José, a prominent entertainment executive, and Kitty. They shot their parents multiple times as they watched television in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989. Prosecutors said there was no evidence of abuse, and argued they killed their parents in order to receive a multimillion-dollar inheritance. The brothers were ultimately sentenced to two consecutive life terms each.
In recent years, the case – particularly the brothers’ accounts of abuse – have attracted significant new attention. Last year, they were the subject of a documentary and a popular, albeit controversial, Netflix series, and received a torrent of support from criminal justice reform advocates, including Kim Kardashian.
In October, George Gascón, then the Los Angeles county district attorney, announced he was recommending that the Menéndez brothers be resentenced, citing he believed they were “subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction … and molestation” and in the time they spent in prison they had been on a “journey of redemption and rehabilitation”. Family members praised the decision, describing it as “recognition of the abuse” the brothers suffered. Supporters hoped that they might be released in time for the holidays.
But Gascón lost his seat in November to Nathan Hochman, who had argued the timing of the announcement was a political move that put a “cloud over the fairness and impartiality of his decision”.
Last week, Hochman said he did not believe the brothers deserved the new trial that they petitioned for in 2023, and cast doubt on new evidence of abuse, while urging the court to deny a habeas petition from the brothers. He also said that Newsom had “unilateral” power to commute the brothers’ sentence that he could exercise immediately. The governor, however, has said he will not make a decision until Hochman completes his review.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
