The clemency request follows Gascón’s court filing Friday asking a Superior Court judge to resentence the brothers, who were convicted in 1996 of fatally shooting their parents in Beverly Hills.
In his request, Gascón said he supported clemency because of “credible allegations” that Lyle Menendez was the victim of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of his father. If granted, the brothers could receive a pardon or a sentence reduction.
“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without possibility of parole,” Gascón said in a news release Wednesday. “They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates.”
The victims were sitting on the family’s couch watching television and eating when the brothers fired Mossberg shotguns at them and killed them, according to Gascón.
Los Angeles defense lawyer Mark Geragos, who represents the brothers, submitted his clemency request to Newsom on Monday.
Newsom is not required to consider the application and there is no set timeline for review. The applicant also doesn’t face a court hearing and there is no fee to apply, according to the governor’s office.
The men, who were 21 and 18 at the time of the murders, remain behind bars at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
A recent documentary on Netflix, “The Menendez Brothers,” released by Campfire Studios, details the case and their claim of sexual abuse by their father.
The movie prompted a flood of calls to Gascón’s office from the public seeking their release, he said last week.
Many members of the Menendez family support Gascón’s request to Los Angeles Superior Court to resentence the two brothers, which could allow them to be released immediately.
The men were tried twice. The first ended in a hung jury, with half of the jurors favoring a manslaughter conviction. They were retried in 1995, with much of the testimony centering on alleged sexual abuse by their father.
“You don’t have to exactly read between the lines to see that the governor is seriously considering the idea of either commuting or granting clemency to the Menendez brothers,” Geragos told Banfield. “He even invoked two words—his words—‘fast tracked.’”
While incarcerated, Lyle Menendez earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Irvine. He also created four programs within the prison to help other inmates with gardening and rehabilitation.
Erik Menendez has earned an associate’s degree in sociology and learned American Sign Language to communicate with hearing-impaired people who participate in programs he created in prison, according to the district attorney.
“I met with the team that put that series together about nine months ago, and they gave me heads up,” Newsom said. “They said, watch, see what happens after this series is released, because it’s gonna generate a lot more conversation around whether or not these guys should be released or resentenced.”
Newsom didn’t say whether he would consider clemency, but said he was working on other pardons and commutations last week. Newsom said he considers whether family members support the resentencing and how the inmates have handled rehabilitation.
The governor said any assessment of the brothers will consider their conduct in prison.
“Did they invest in their own rehabilitation? Have they committed to being better people outside those prison walls?” Newsom said.
