(LOS ANGELES) — Lyle and Erik Menendez will appear at independent parole board hearings on June 13 as a part of the brothers’ bid for clemency, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.
“On June 13, we will have the parole hearing board recommendation,” the governor explained Tuesday on his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “That independent analysis will help guide the decision-making that my office is independently reviewing as it relates to the clemency application.”
The June hearings will follow the 90-day independent risk assessment that Newsom announced two weeks ago. He is ordering the parole board to conduct the assessment to determine whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if released.
The governor wants an assessment of “the applicant’s current risk level, the impact of a commutation on victims and survivors, the applicant’s self-development and conduct since the offense, and if the applicant has made use of available rehabilitative programs, addressed treatment needs, and mitigated risk factors for reoffending,” his office said in a statement.
Newsom stressed on his podcast Tuesday that his clemency decision will only be “influenced by the facts.”
Celebrity does have “an impact, but in what direction does it weigh?” Newsom said. “Sometimes it’s used actually against people, because they’re so high profile, they’re actually held to a higher level of scrutiny and standards. At the same time, you don’t want that celebrity also to influence on the other side.”
“That’s why I move forward with the Board of Parole hearings to independently review with a group of experts — forensic psychologists and others — the facts of this case,” he said.
Newsom said he has not watched Ryan Murphy’s fictional series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” which premiered on Netflix in September 2024 and brought new attention to the infamous case.
“I’ve seen a few clips here and there on social media,” he said. “I don’t intend to watch these series because I don’t want to be influenced by them. I just want to be influenced by the facts.”
“I’m obviously familiar with the Menendez brothers, just through the news over the course of many decades,” Newsom added. “But not to the degree that many others are because of all of these documentaries and all of the attention they’ve received. So that won’t bias my independent and objective review.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez. Over 20 of their relatives are pushing for their release after 35 years behind bars.
Besides clemency, the brothers are pursuing two other paths to freedom: resentencing and a petition to review new evidence.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday that he’s opposed to resentencing, arguing the brothers hadn’t taken responsibility for their actions and calling their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.”
Because the “brothers persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury, then they do not meet the standards for resentencing,” Hochman said at a news conference.
Hochman’s decision is an about-face from his predecessor, George Gascón, who announced in October that he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Newsom said on his podcast that Hochman’s decision won’t impact the clemency process.
The final decision on resentencing is made by the judge; a hearing is set for March 20 and 21.
Hochman is also opposed to the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman announced last month that he’s asked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the new evidence isn’t credible or admissible.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.
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