California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday that Lyle and Erik Menendez will face the state’s parole board on June 13 for risk assessments that could influence their potential release. “Both Lyle and Erik Menendez will have their final hearings independently. A report will be submitted to me on June 13 for consideration,” Newsom stated on his iHeart Radio podcast. “We will forward this report to the judge for resentencing, which will factor into our own analysis on whether to proceed with the clemency application.”
This announcement came just one day after Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman withdrew his office’s support for the brothers’ resentencing.
The Menendez brothers were convicted of murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Hochman stated that he would not support their resentencing unless they admitted to what he referred to as “16 unacknowledged lies,” including their self-defense claims and accusations that their father drugged and raped a friend.
Alexandra Kazarian, a senior trial attorney for the Menendez defense team, criticized Hochman’s position, suggesting that his focus was on punishment rather than rehabilitation. “Nathan Hochman has made it very clear that he wants to maintain the conviction,” she said on NewsNation’s Banfield. “It’s clear that the DA’s office is not interested in looking at rehabilitation.”
Mark Geragos, the brothers’ lead attorney, responded to Hochman’s demands, stating that the issues Hochman mentioned had either been abandoned or addressed during the initial trial. Geragos also accused Hochman of retraumatizing the Menendez family. A family member even wrote a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking for Hochman’s removal from the case, describing him as “hostile, dismissive, and patronizing” during recent meetings.
The Menendez brothers, who have spent more than 30 years in prison for the killings, maintain that they acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father. They are scheduled for a resentencing hearing on March 20, which remains on the calendar despite Hochman’s opposition.
