Governor Won’t Decide on Menendez Brothers Bid for Clemency Until After Newly-Elected DA Reviews Case

On Monday, Nov. 18, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he would hold off deciding about possible clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, both serving life in prison for the shotgun murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, until after the incoming Los Angeles County District Attorney reviews the case.

The current DA, George Gascón, who lost his bid for reelection in November against Nathan Hochman, strongly supported the brothers’ bid for clemency. In October, Gascón said his office would ask a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to resentence Lyle and Erik to 50 years to life, which would potentially allow the brothers to go free on parole.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Newsom’s office said in a statement: “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. The Governor will defer to the DA-elect’s review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions.”

Former federal prosecutor Hochman, who is set to take office in December, said in a statement he plans 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,” according to the New York Times.

Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21 when they shot and killed their parents with 12-gauge shotguns in the den of their Beverly Hills, Calif., home on Aug. 20, 1989.

The brothers alleged that the murders came after Jose, the chief operating officer of RCA Records, sexually abused them for years — abuse that they claimed their mother, a former pageant queen, ignored.

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However, authorities said the two brothers’ motive was greed, citing the lavish spending spree — which involved expensive watches, cars, and tennis lessons — the two brothers went on after the slayings.

In 1996, three years after their first trial ended in a deadlock, the siblings were convicted of the first-degree murders of their parents and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Efforts to free the brothers gained traction in 2023 when attorneys for the pair filed a habeas corpus petition with Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing new evidence in the case, which included a newly discovered letter Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the murders.

Gascón formally recommended that the brothers each be resentenced to 50 years to life on Thursday, Oct. 24, and explained his rationale.

“We’re very sure, not only that the brothers have rehabilitated and that they will be safe to be reintegrated in our society, but that they have paid their dues,” Gascón said, adding that in prison they had worked to “improve the lives of so many others.” 

He later announced support for their bid for clemency on Oct. 30.

“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without possibility of parole,” Gascón wrote in a press release. “They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.