California Gov. Gavin Newsom has commissioned the State Parole Board to conduct an “extensive investigation into risk assessment” on Erik and Lyle Mendez, To determine whether they are “an unreasonable risk for the public” when they are released from prison.
On Wednesday, Newsom made the announcement during a segment on his podcast: “This is Gavin Newsom.”
“The question for the board is a simple – do Erik and Lyle Mendez, they form a current, which we call” unreasonable risk to public safety, “Newsom said.
“The risk assessment will be carried out as they are usually performed – by experts in public safety and forensic psychologists.”
Newsom described the assessment as a “common procedure carried out by the state.”
“Then there will be a hearing that works as a standard conditional hearing, which offers the public prosecutor and the victims the opportunity to be part of the process,” the Governor’s office shared in a statement.
The Newsom office explained That the legal standard in California is for release on conditional release or a prisoner is an unreasonable risk to public safety, which must be determined before the governor can make a decision about their commutations.
“This process does not mean that there is a guaranteed outcome, but it shows that we do our due diligence, ensuring transparency, keeping public safety in the foreground, ensuring that the process is fair for all involved and comes closer to a conclusion,” said newsom.
In November, Newsom indicated that he would postpone any decision about the case of Menendez’s brothers to local courts and prosecutors.
“The governor respects the role of the public prosecutor to ensure that justice is served and acknowledges that voters have entrusted the chosen district lawyer Hochman to perform this responsibility,” ” Said the Newsom office In an earlier explanation. “The governor will postpone the assessment and analysis of the DA-elect of the Menendez case before the decisions of Clementia are made.”
The Newsom office told Fox News Digital that the decision of the governor is part of a greater announcement about executive clements that he will release later on Wednesday.
Menendez Brothers desirable: what happens afterwards?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the State Parole Board to carry out a “risk assessment test” on Erik and Lyle Mendez, of which he said it is a common procedure performed by the State.
Newsom said that the results of the risk assessment will be shared with the Los Angeles Superior Court judge that presents the case, as well as Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman and defense lawyers.
“There is no guarantee for the outcome here,” Newsom said. “My office performs dozens and dozens of these clement assessments on a consistent base, but this process offers more transparency, which I think is important in this case, and offers us more due diligence before making some determination for clementia.”
The announcement of Newsom comes less than a week after Hochman asked the court for the request of Menendez’s brothers to reject a new trial.
Hochman mentioned issues with the evidence and claimed that it did not meet a standard with a high enough for a new test.
This comes months after the first By George Gascon New evidence cited in the form of a letter that suggests that the brothers may have been abused by their father as a reason for a new process.
Letter in the center of the bid of Mendez Brothers on freedom questioned
Incoming Los Angeles County Da Nate Hochman says he has not seen any of the media about the Menendez brothers before taking the office. (Getty Images)
“We looked at the credibility of the lettersIn particular this Andy Cano 1988 supposed letter weighed in the continuum of lies, and it raises a drastic question whether this was in fact a letter from 1988 written by Erik Menendez to Andy Cano about this sexual abuse, “Hochman said in a Friday news conference.
The letter is said to have written eight months before the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano, and detailed sexual abuse by their father.
The letter was only found a few years ago, said the lawyer of the brothers of Menendez.
The family of the Menendez family sentenced Hochman’s decision in an earlier explanation shared with Fox News Digital by their legal team.
“District lawyer Nathan Hochman took us back to 1996 today. He opened the wounds we spent decades to cure,” said the statement. “He did not listen to us. We were deeply disappointed by his comments, in which he effectively tore new evidence and discredited the trauma that they experienced. To suggest that the years of abuse could not have lead to the tragedy in 1989 is not only outrageous, but also dangerous.
Menendez Brothers Storentcing hearing postponed due to furious fires in Los Angeles
Erik Menendez (C) and his brother Lyle (L) were shown on 12 August 1991 in Beverly Hills. They are accused of killing their parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez van Beverly Hills, California AFP -Photo Mike Nelson (photo by Mike Nelson / AFP) (photo by Mike Nelson / AFP via Getty Images) (Mike Nelson/AFP via Getty images)
“Abuse does not exist in a vacuum. It leaves behind permanent scars, restores the brain and contains victims in cycles of fear and trauma. To say that it did not play a role in Erik and Lyle’s action is to ignore psychological research and fundamental human concept for decades.”
The explanation added that it was “absurd” for Hochman to say that the evidence should have been submitted during the process.
Hochman also noted that Newsom has the clementia -petition on his desk and “he can do what he wants, whenever he wants, and we will have to deal with the problem with the resentment in the coming weeks.”
If Hochman’s office continues with the writer, Newsom still has the last word. If the sentences of the brothers are reduced to something that would be eligible to them for conditional release, the governor has a veto power over conditional management decisions. He could also spend a clementia or a grace.
The hearing was pushed back almost two months because of the devastating forest fires of California.
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Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty in 1996 to the murder of their parents in 1989 Ritzy Beverly Hills Home And convicted of life in prison without conditional release.
The brothers claim that they have shot their father, former RCA records director Jose Mendez, out of self-defense, and claimed that they thought he would kill them after they had warned him to expose him as an abuser of children.
They also killed their mother, Mary “Kitty” Menendez, who was eating ice in their living room next to Jose when they opened the fire.
Their First test Ended in a mistrial, when jury members couldn’t agree on their fate. After a second process in the mid -nineties, in which some of their evidence about the alleged sexual abuse was excluded, jury members agreed with officers that their motive was greed.
Michael Ruiz, Michael Dorgan and Brie Stimson from Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price is a writer for FOX News Digital and Fox Business. She deals with topics, including missing persons, murders, national crime cases, illegal immigration and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected]
