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By Chloe Mayer
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The Menendez brothers, who have spent decades in prison after being convicted of murdering their parents, are hoping to taste freedom following a flurry of renewed interest in their case.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were 18 and 21 when they shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989. Now aged 53 and 56, respectively, the brothers have received a wave of public sympathy after a true-crime drama and Netflix documentary explored the shooting and subsequent trials. New evidence has also come to light that the brothers' attorneys hope will lead to their release.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said a clemency decision would be made as soon as possible. However, the timing is uncertain, as a new Los Angeles County district attorney is due to be sworn into office in early December—and reviewing the case's thousands of pages of documents is a time-consuming task.
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Newsom said he would wait for Nathan Hochman, the new DA, to review the case. In October, District Attorney George Gascon, who lost his bid for reelection earlier this month, recommended resentencing for the brothers and making them eligible for parole.
Following Gascon's electoral defeat, the issue now lands on the desk of Hochman, who is due to be sworn in on December 2—days before the brothers' resentencing hearing, which is scheduled for December 11. It is uncertain whether Hochman will have reached an informed decision by then.
"I've got to actually look at the thousands of pages of confidential prison files that I don't have access to read, thousands of pages of transcripts from months-long trials," Hochman told Fox 11. "I've got to speak to the prosecutors, law enforcement, the defense victim, family members. And only then will I be in a position to determine if the current resentencing request is just that."
In an interview with ABC News, Hochman said the decision was too important to delegate to his team, suggesting he intended to read the files and "do the work" himself. He added that he would "work as expeditiously as possible."
Newsweek has contacted the DA's office by email for comment.
During the brothers' trial, prosecutors alleged that they had killed their parents out of greed, wanting to inherit the fortune amassed by their father, an entertainment executive. That trial, which was televised and received widespread national attention, ended in a mistrial. In a second trial, the jury convicted the brothers of first-degree murder. In 1996, a judge sentenced them to life without parole. They have unsuccessfully appealed their convictions several times.
The brothers have always denied that money was a motive. They told the jury that the shooting was closer to self-defense, saying they had experienced long-term sexual or physical abuse at the hands of their father since they were children. They also accused their mother of allowing the abuse to continue.
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New evidence submitted to the district attorney's office this year named another alleged victim: former pop star Roy Rossello of the group Menudo. Rossello said Jose Menendez raped him in the 1980s. Meanwhile, a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin Andy Cano before the murders is said to have referred to the alleged abuse he was being subjected to at the time.
The brothers' attorneys have argued that society's views on sexual abuse have changed dramatically, suggesting that the pair might have received a more sympathetic sentence or a lesser murder charge were the same case to be tried today.
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