The governor of California orders the Board of probation to investigate whether the Menéndez brothers would represent a risk if released

By Christopher Weber

Los Angeles (AP) – Lawyers of Lyle and Erik Menéndez On Wednesday he said that the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, ordered the state probation board to investigate whether the brothers would represent a risk to the public if they are released after almost three decades in prison for the murder of their parents in 1989.

The Board will carry out a “comprehensive risk assessment” on whether the brothers have been rehabilitated, according to Mark Geragos and Cliff Gardner. The defense lawyers said they were grateful for Newsom’s decision.

“The family realizes that the governor’s action does not mean that he travels the sentences. On the other hand, this initial step reflects the governor’s considered decision to obtain at least the information required to make a fair decision of whether Erik and Lyle, after 35 years in prison, have done the hard work necessary to have an opportunity in a life outside the prison, ”said Geragos and Gardner in a statement.

There was no timeline for the Board investigation. A message that sought more details was sent on Wednesday to the governor’s office.

The brothers are studying multiple ways to gain their freedom: Clemence of Newsom, a resentment hearing and a new trial. Los Angeles district prosecutor Nathan Hochman, said Friday That opposes a new trial for the brothers, but has not decided whether to support a resentment offer that could lead to their freedom. Newsom has said that he It will not make a clemency decision Until Hochman finishes checking the case.

The brothers were convicted in the murders of their entertainment executive father, José, and his mother, Kitty Menéndez, and sentenced to Life in prison Without probation. They started their last offer for freedom In recent years after their lawyers said new evidence of sexual abuse of their father, and they have the support of most of his extended family.

Hochman said he presented an informal response urging the Superior Court of the Los Angeles County to reject a habit request presented by the Brothers’ lawyers in 2023 who is looking for a reexamal of his case that focuses in part of the accusations that José Menéndez sexually abused Erik Menendez.

Hochman doubts the evidence of abuse and said he was not pertinent to the case, disputing the claims that the murders constituted self -defense. He also characterized the testimony of sexual abuse of the brothers and not reliable because they had told five different explanations of why they committed the murder.

The Menéndez family called Hochman’s decision “abhorrent” and said “discredited the trauma” experienced by the brothers.

The family said in a statement last week that they should not need new evidence, since the justice system failed the brothers at that time and “continues to fail now.”

Lyle MenéndezThat he was 21 years old, and Erik Menéndez, then 18, admitted that they killed their parents with a shotgun, but said they feared that their parents were about to kill them to avoid the revelation of long -term long -term sexual abuse of Erik in the long term.

The prosecutors said that at that time there was no evidence of sexual abuse, and that there were not many details in the history of sexual abuse of the brothers in the trial that led to their conviction in 1996. The prosecutors accused the brothers of killing their parents for money.

The proposed resentment for the brothers is still scheduled to be taken at a March audience and would make them immediately eligible for probation.

The former District Prosecutor of Los Angeles County, George Gascón, recommended last year that the brothers were forwarded to 50 years of life. Gascón lost his commitment to re -election in November to Hochman.

The possible resentment will take into account the rehabilitation of the brothers during their time in prison. Hochman has met with the relatives of the brothers While checking your case, which includes thousands of prison record pages.

The case has won a new traction after Netflix began transmitting the drama of true crime “Monsters: the story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez. “

Originally published: February 26, 2025 at 1:15 PM CST