(NewsNation) — A California parole board will hear arguments this week over whether Erik and Lyle Menendez deserve to be released, but even if the brothers are given the green light, their freedom will ultimately be in the hands of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Under state law, Newsom has the final say over parole decisions, adding an additional hurdle for the brothers, who have spent three decades in prison for the 1989 murders of their parents.
The brothers became eligible for parole earlier this year, after a judge reduced their sentences from life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life.
In two separate hearings, the parole board will assess whether the brothers pose an “unreasonable risk of danger to society” if released.
If the board grants parole, the chief legal counsel has 120 days to review the case.
After that, Newsom has 30 days to affirm or deny parole under a law passed by voters in 1988.
California and Oklahoma are the only states that allow the governor to veto parole grants, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
What has Gov. Gavin Newsom said about Menendez brothers case?
Newsom had previously ordered the state parole board to conduct a risk assessment of the brothers in response to a clemency request. At the time, he emphasized a key question was whether the brothers posed an “unreasonable risk to public safety.”
The move was seen as a lean toward their freedom, but Newsom hasn’t directly addressed his potential decision.
“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said in February on his podcast. “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis. But this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case, as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”
Last month, he hinted at the possibility of making a decision before Labor Day if the board recommends the brothers’ release, according to ABC News.
Newsom said he has both approved and rejected decisions by the parole board, and that he was the “ultimate arbiter.”
Which notable parole approvals has Gov. Gavin Newsom reversed?
Newsom has exercised his power to reverse parole board decisions hundreds of times while in office.
One of his most notable reversals was for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
Even though a parole board found him eligible, Newsom blocked the decision.
“After decades in prison, he has failed to address the deficiencies that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy,” Newsom said in a statement in 2022. “Mr. Sirhan lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the same types of dangerous decisions he made in the past.”
Newsom also blocked parole for Leslie Van Houten, a follower of Charles Manson who was convicted in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
The parole board recommended Van Houten’s release in 2022, but Newsom said he had concerns about her rehabilitation and failure to adequately address her involvement in the Manson family murders.
“Evidence shows that she currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison,” Newsom said at the time.
Van Houten was eventually released in 2023 after the governor said he would not fight a state appeals court’s ruling that said she should be granted parole.
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Author: Safia Samee Ali
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