The California prosecutor who said late last month that he would push for Erik and Lyle Menenedez’s resentencing lost Tuesday’s election, possibly threatening the jailed brothers’ chance at freedom.
On October 28, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón backed the Menendez brothers’ bid for clemency by sending a letter of support to Governor Gavin Newsom. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that Gascón conceded to former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman on Tuesday after preliminary results showed he had about 39 percent of the vote.
The Menendez brothers sought clemency as poll numbers suggested that Gascón would not win reelection. Days earlier, Gascón said he would seek to have the pair resentenced.
READ: ‘They Have Paid Their Debt’: Prosecutor Recommends Resentencing Menendez Brothers
Gascón said he would ask the court to have the parole ineligibility condition removed from their sentences and have them resentenced for murder. If successful, the pair would be sentenced to 50 years to life with parole. However, because they were younger than 26 when the murders occurred, he claimed they could be released on youthful parole.
In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez, then 18 and 21, purchased two shotguns with cash and used them to kill their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home. Investigators originally suspected the mafia was behind the slayings. However, a break in the case occurred in 1990 when Erik Menendez confessed to a therapist.
Evidence of Erik and Lyle Menendez’s father molesting them was presented at their first trial — which ended with a hung jury. However, those details were not as prominent during the second trial, resulting in their convictions.
Erik and Lyle Menendez have spent 34 years behind bars as they are ineligible for parole under their current sentence. Following his win, Hochman told KTLA how he plans to handle the case.
“Here’s my approach, whether it’s the Menendez case or quite honestly any case: you have to do the hard work. You have to look, in that case, at thousands of pages of confidential prison files, you have to review thousands of trial transcripts from months-long trials, and you have to speak to the prosecutors, law enforcement, and the defense counsel…and the victims’ families,” he said.
“Only then can you be in a position to determine whether resentencing is the remedy in this situation or whether what is asked for in the resentencing is the appropriate request. I’m not in that position now, but I can tell you if I do have to make that call, I will do the hard work to make the right decision.”
The Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing is scheduled for December 2 — which is after District Attorney-elect Hochman takes office. A status hearing is scheduled for November 25.
It remains unclear whether Governor Newsom will give the brothers clemency.
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[Feature Photo: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP]
