CNN
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The ouster of Los Angeles County’s progressive DA George Gascón in a closely watched election, added an eleventh-hour layer of uncertainty to the move to have Erik and Lyle Menendez resented each other nearly 30 years after their convictions for killing their parents.

Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who defeated Gascón after a campaign in which he argued that the prosecutor’s office’s policies failed to ensure public safety, told CNN on Wednesday that he would need time to review the files before taking a decision. position on sentencing. Hochman takes office on Dec. 2, and a resentencing hearing will be held on Dec. 11.

But legal experts said the brothers’ potential release has already been set in motion, with a court likely to soon hear from loved ones of the Menendez family as well as prosecutors who oppose the decision to convict them. If the court grants the request, experts said, it will then be up to the state parole board to approve or deny their release. Still, experts insist, the case should not be an immediate priority for the newly elected top prosecutor of America’s most populous county — home to nearly 10 million people.

“Before I can make any decision regarding the Menendez brothers’ case, I will need to fully familiarize myself with the relevant facts, evidence and law,” Hochman said in a statement.

“I will need to review confidential prison files for each brother, transcripts of both trials, and speak with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense attorneys, and family members of the victims. Only then can I make a decision. If for some reason I need additional time, I will ask the court for that time.”

In an interview, Hochman said he would move as “quickly” as possible to review the case.

“If I’m asking for a delay, it’s not going to be a delay for the sake of delay, because I think the Menendez brothers, the victim’s family, the public deserve a decision as soon as it can be made in a thorough manner,” Hochman told CNN.

Gascon last month he filed a motion a judge’s recommendation to sentence the brothers following a review that came after defense lawyers said in 2023 they had new evidence showing abuse from their father. Hochman criticized the timing of the move as a political ploy.

Hochman will have the power to withdraw the office’s resentencing recommendation, said USC Gould School of Law professor Aya Gruber. But he doubts it will go that far.

“Unless there’s a situation that comes up right away and says, ‘You know, this is horrible. This is a miscarriage of justice,’ I can’t imagine that’s going to be a priority for the new DA,” she said. “It certainly won’t be his first order of business.”

Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, told CNN that the new prosecutor is unlikely to interfere with the motion.

“The best door to getting relief is a reduced sentence motion, and they might be able to get the court to do that. And I don’t know that Hochman is so eager to intervene in that movement,” Levenson told CNN, referring to the defense’s efforts to free the brothers.

“I don’t think you’ll see Hochman holding a press conference about the Menendez case. He can quietly let the court decide, especially when it seems that other people will oppose (resentment) during the court hearing.”

If the court rules against their release, “then it’s really over,” Levenson said of the resentencing bid. But she said recent changes to sentencing laws, coupled with the time the brothers have already served, could give them “a pretty good shot” at freedom.

However, there are other paths to their release. Gascón has written letters to California Gov. Gavin Newson supporting the brothers in their bid for clemency, which could free them immediately — possibly before Hochman’s term as prosecutor begins. Newsom’s office declined to comment, saying clemency requests are confidential. An attorney for the brothers would not confirm to CNN whether they have made a formal request for clemency.

“I don’t think he’s going to do the Menendez brothers any favors, but I don’t know that he wants to step in at this stage unless he feels strongly about it, and it’s not clear that he does,” Levenson said. of the incoming district attorney.

Gruber said Hochman could ask that the Dec. 11 hearing be moved to a later date and divert attention from his new mandate from the Menendez case.

Gascón, during his re-election campaign, sought to sentence Erik and Lyle Menendez from life in prison without parole to life in prison with parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. California, the brothers would be immediately eligible for parole because they were under 26 when they committed the crimes.

Gascón cited new evidence of years of sexual and physical abuse by their father, the support of all but one of their family members and behavior, he said, demonstrated rehabilitation during the nearly three decades in prison.

“I think they have paid their debt to society and the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board, and if the board agrees with my assessment … they will be released accordingly,” he said. Gascón said in an Oct. 24 news release. conference.

The reexamination of the case comes decades after Jose and Kitty Menendez were fatally shot in their Beverly Hills mansion. Their sons, who were 21 and 18 at the time, were arrested less than a year later in 1990 and convicted of first-degree murder six years later.

At their two landmark trials, the brothers did not deny killing their parents, but argued they should not be convicted for acting in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse from their father.

The first trial — one of the first cases to be televised — ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on the charges. In the second trial, much of the defense’s evidence about the sexual abuse was excluded, and the brothers were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

The brothers’ story gained renewed interest after the September release of the Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Also, Netflix released a documentary about the Menendez case, featuring both men discussing what led up to the murders.

“The stage has been set for them to potentially be freed, but I also think … the position of the new prosecutor has a lot to do with it,” CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said of the brothers.

“It would be naïve to suggest that a prosecutor’s recommendation — and it is a recommendation — isn’t otherwise significant in terms of influencing a judge’s decision… But I think public opinion is very much in favor of freeing the Menendez brothers.”

Gascon was attacked during his tenure for pursuing an agenda centered on reducing incarceration, rejecting enhancements that lengthen sentences, and a policy of not prosecuting “quality of life” offenses associated with homelessness, such as trespassing and public urination.