Gov. Newsom requires ‘danger evaluation’ probe in Menendez brothers case

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered the state parole board to conduct a “complete danger evaluation investigation” on Erik and Lyle Menendez, to find out whether or not they pose “an unreasonable danger to the general public” if launched from jail. 

On Wednesday, Newsom made the announcement throughout a phase on his podcast, “That is Gavin Newsom.” 

“The query for the board is an easy one – do Erik and Lyle Menendez, do they pose a present, what we name `unreasonable danger to public security,”‘ Newsom stated.

“The danger evaluation shall be carried out as they usually are carried out — by specialists in public security in addition to forensic psychologists.”

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Newsom described the evaluation as a “widespread process carried out by the state.” 

“After that, there’s going to be a listening to that works like an ordinary parole listening to, offering the District Legal professional and the victims an opportunity to be a part of the method,” the governor’s workplace shared in a press release.

Newsom’s workplace defined that the authorized normal in California for launch on parole is whether or not an inmate poses an unreasonable danger to public security, which needs to be decided earlier than the Governor can decide on their commutations. 

“This course of doesn’t imply there’s any assured end result, but it surely exhibits we’re doing our due diligence, guaranteeing transparency, preserving public security on the forefront, ensuring the method is honest for everybody concerned, and getting nearer to a conclusion,” Newsom’s workplace stated. 

Again in November, Newsom indicated he would defer any resolution on the Menendez brothers’ case to native courts and prosecutors. 

“The Governor respects the function of the District Legal professional in guaranteeing justice is served and acknowledges that voters have entrusted District Legal professional-elect Hochman to hold out this accountability,” Newsom’s workplace stated in a earlier assertion. “The Governor will defer to the DA-elect’s evaluation and evaluation of the Menendez case prior to creating any clemency selections.”

Newsom’s workplace informed Fox Information Digital that the governor’s resolution is a component of a bigger announcement on govt clemency actions that he shall be releasing afterward Wednesday.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom requested the state parole board to conduct a “danger evaluation investigation” on Erik and Lyle Menendez, which he stated is a standard process carried out by the state.

Newsom stated the outcomes of the chance evaluation shall be shared with the Los Angeles Superior Courtroom decide presiding over the case, in addition to Los Angeles District Legal professional Nathan Hochman and protection attorneys.

“There isn’t any assure of end result right here,” Newsom stated. “My workplace conducts dozens and dozens of those clemency evaluations on a constant foundation, however this course of merely offers extra transparency, which I feel is vital on this case, in addition to offers us extra due diligence earlier than I make any willpower for clemency.”

Newsom’s announcement comes lower than per week after Hochman requested the court docket to reject the Menendez brothers’ request for a brand new trial.

Hochman cited points with the proof, claiming it did not meet a excessive sufficient normal for a brand new trial.

This comes months after former DA George Gascon cited new proof within the type of a letter suggesting the brothers could have been abused by their father as a cause for a brand new trial. 

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Incoming Los Angeles County DA Nate Hochman says he hasn’t seen any of the media concerning the Menendez brothers earlier than he assumes workplace. (Getty Photos)

“We regarded once more on the credibility of the letters, notably this Andy Cano 1988 supposed letter weighed within the continuum of lies, and it calls into drastic query whether or not that is actually a 1988 letter written by Erik Menendez to Andy Cano about this sexual abuse,” Hochman stated in a Friday information convention. 

The letter was allegedly written eight months earlier than the murders of their mother and father, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano, and detailed alleged sexual abuse by their father. 

The letter wasn’t discovered till a number of years in the past, the Menendez brothers’ legal professional stated. 

The Menendez brothers’ household condemned Hochman’s resolution in a earlier assertion shared with Fox Information Digital by their authorized group. 

“District Legal professional Nathan Hochman took us proper again to 1996 as we speak. He opened the injuries we’ve spent many years attempting to heal,” the assertion stated. “He didn’t take heed to us. We’re profoundly disenchanted by his remarks, wherein he successfully tore up new proof and discredited the trauma they skilled. To recommend that the years of abuse couldn’t have led to the tragedy in 1989 isn’t solely outrageous, but additionally harmful. 

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Erik Menendez (C) and his brother Lyle (L) are pictured, on August 12, 1991 in Beverly Hills. They’re accused of killing their mother and father, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills, Calif. AFP PHOTO MIKE NELSON (Picture by MIKE NELSON / AFP) (Picture by MIKE NELSON/AFP by way of Getty Photos) (MIKE NELSON/AFP by way of Getty Photos)

“Abuse doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It leaves lasting scars, rewires the mind, and traps victims in cycles of concern and trauma. To say it performed no function in Erik and Lyle’s motion is to disregard many years of psychological analysis and fundamental human understanding.” 

The assertion added that it was “absurd” for Hochman to say that the proof ought to have been submitted on the trial. 

Hochman additionally famous that Newsom has the clemency petition on his desk and “he can do no matter he desires, every time he desires, and we shall be dealing within the subsequent couple of weeks with the resentencing problem.”  

If Hochman’s workplace continues down the resentencing street, Newsom nonetheless has the ultimate say. If the brothers’ sentences are decreased to one thing that may make them eligible for parole, the governor has veto energy over parole board selections. He may additionally problem clemency or a pardon on his personal.

The resentencing listening to was pushed again almost two months resulting from California’s devastating wildfires.

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Lyle and Erik Menendez have been discovered responsible in 1996 of the 1989 killing of their mother and father at their ritzy Beverly Hills house and sentenced to life in jail with out parole.

The brothers declare they shot their father, former RCA Data govt Jose Menendez, in self-defense, arguing they thought he was going to kill them after they warned him they deliberate to reveal him as a baby intercourse abuser. 

In addition they killed their mom, Mary “Kitty” Menendez, who was sitting subsequent to Jose consuming ice cream of their front room once they opened hearth.

Their first trial led to a mistrial, when jurors could not agree on their destiny. After a second trial within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, wherein a few of their proof concerning the alleged sexual abuse was excluded, jurors agreed with prosecutors that their motive was greed.

Fox Information Digital’s Michael Ruiz, Michael Dorgan, and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.