After a judge ruled against them last week, prosecutors from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed a new motion to delay the Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing until the court can review a recently completed parole board assessment.
“The People request the Court make all reasonable efforts to obtain the recently completed Comprehensive Risk Assessments from the Governor’s Office,” prosecutors noted in their legal filing. “If additional time is required to obtain these documents, the People ask the Court to continue the resentencing hearing.”
The motion stems from the Menendez brothers’ other avenue to freedom, an appeal for clemency from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In late February, Newsom ordered the state parole board to perform a risk assessment of Erik and Lyle Menendez as one of the first steps toward clemency.
Newsom announced that a decision on the Menendez brothers’ bid for clemency will be made after their final risk assessment hearing in June.
“On June 13, both Lyle and Erik Menendez, independently, will have their final hearing,” Newsom said on his titular podcast. “That would weigh into our independent analysis of whether or not to move forward with the clemency application to support a commutation.”
However, the LA County DA claimed the board completed the risk assessment reports on April 15.
“On April 15, 2025, the People were made aware that the Parole Board has completed its Comprehensive Risk Assessment Reports for Erik and Lyle Menendez,” prosecutors wrote in their legal filing. “Although the People were directed not to disclose these reports due to the Governor’s Executive privilege and for other reasons, the Governor’s Office has invited the Court to request these documents for use at the resentencing hearing.”
The district attorney argued that both parties have referenced previous reports during the proceedings.
“There is no legitimate reason why the court should not possess the most current and up to date risk assessments before making any resentencing decisions in this case,” prosecutors wrote.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 killings of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez. The brothers admitted to the killings but said they did it in self-defense, after enduring years of abuse from their parents. They spent more than 30 years in custody until former DA George Gascón filed a motion in favor of reducing the brothers’ sentences and granting them eligibility for parole.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman filed a request to withdraw his predecessor’s motion after his office reviewed tens of thousands of court documents, trial transcripts, prison records and other statements. Hochman claimed Gascón’s previous motion did not thoroughly consider whether the brothers had taken full responsibility for their crimes.
With that reasoning, Hochman requested the court allow him to withdraw Gascón’s motion. However, LA County Judge Michael Jesic denied Hochman’s request, allowing the proceedings to continue on Thursday, April 17.
“These murders were calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded killings,” Hochman said in a statement following the hearing. “Our position remains clear: Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”
After the decision, the brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, thanked the judge and claimed, “Justice won over politics,” a statement reiterated by Menendez family members lobbying for Erik and Lyle’s resentencing.
“Today’s ruling affirms something that should have never been in question,” cousin Anamaria Baralt said. “The facts, fairness and the law still matter. The court made clear that this process is not about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about justice. And, it’s about giving people the chance to show who they are now, not just who they were in their worst moments.”
Following the decision, Hochman released a statement disputing the assertion that his request was politically motivated.
“In denying our request to withdraw the prior DA’s resentencing motion, the Court rejected the Menendez brothers’ argument that our request was based just ‘on the political winds,’ acknowledging that this Office has pursued an impartial, non-political agenda in this case grounded in the facts and the law,” Hochman stated.
Before he began his term as district attorney, Hochman said he “wouldn’t engage in delay for delay’s sake.”
“And I wouldn’t engage in delay for delay’s sake because this case is too important to the Menendez brothers,” Hochman said in November. “It’s too important to the victims’ family members. It’s too important to the public to delay more than necessary to do the review that people should expect from a district attorney.”
However, Hochman’s rhetoric regarding the case changed in February, claiming that the brothers lied on several occasions during the investigation.
“The basis for that request is that the prior motion did not examine or consider whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and taken complete responsibility for their crimes by continuing for the past over 30 years to lie,” Hochman said in March, after requesting the court withdraw Gascón’s motion.
Leave a Reply