Murderers Lyle and Erik Menendez’s bid for parole has been thrown into question now that the DA who recommended them for release has been fired.
Ultra-liberal Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascón was accused of using his recommendation to free the highly-publicized parent-killers as a way to win support ahead of his failed bid to keep office this week.
Since he was ousted and leaves office at the end of the month, incoming DA Nathan Hochman will now handle the case.
Currently it is with a judge, who Gascon has asked to reduce their murder convictions to manslaughter, which if signed off on could make them eligible for parole right away.
Bryan Freedman, the lawyer for 24 extended family members of Kitty and José Menendez, told The Post: “I certainly pray for [them to be released by Christmas.] I’m an optimistic person. I actually hope that they’re home for Thanksgiving.”
The brothers were both sentenced to life without parole in 1996 over the double murder of parents Kitty and José in 1989. An initial attempt to convict them ended in a mistrial and a second trial didn’t allow their claims of being sexually abused by their father to be included as evidence.
Freedman noted the new DA “has not come out against them being released.”
However, Hochman told The Post he will revisit his predecessor’s ruling but that it will take time for him to reach his own conclusion. “I’m going to have to review thousands of pages of confidential prison files, thousands of pages of trial transcripts,” said Hochman.
“I am not in a position to tell you today how I will ultimately come out on any aspect of the Menendez case.”
Nevertheless, Freedman remains confident that his desired result will be reached.
He points to the fact they have a second shot at being released through a habeas corpus petition filed – which asks a court to review the initial conviction – last year, which could be another path to a resentencing or release for the brothers.
“Nathan Hochman is a really bright guy,” said Freedman. “I trust that he is all about justice. I don’t think this is about a smash and grab.
“I don’t think this is about letting crime happen in our society. Hochman will see this even more so than Gascón in terms of the right thing to do, in terms of trying to get them released as soon as possible.”
Citing enlightened views about the sexual abuse of boys, he said, “I think Nathan Hochman has a real heart and a real soul. I’m confident that he will make the decision that they should be released.”
Even if everything falls apart for the Menendez brothers in terms of the new DA paving their way to lives on the outside, Freedman still has faith in things working out.
One way or the other, he believes California Governor Newsom can jump in with “some kind of commutation or clemency or a reprieve of some sort.”
It could happen sooner rather than later: “I am hopeful and so is the family that Gavin Newsom will step in and do the right thing.”
When it comes to high profile murder cases, Newsom notably refused parole for notorious Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten three times, but acquiesced last year and she was freed on parole.
Freedman said he remains hopeful the Menendez brothers, who have been model prisoners during their entire incarceration, will be out on the street before year’s end.
“If we live in a society where the right thing happens,” he said, “my prediction would be, 100 percent, that they would be released as soon as possible, whether it was by the governor or by the DA.”
