Menendez Brothers' Desperate Freedom Bid Thrown Into Jeopardy After George Gascón Loses LA County District Attorney Re-Election Bid
Nov. 6 2024, Published 11:58 a.m. ET
The Menendez brothers could see their dream of winning their freedom evaporate after the man who championed their case lost his job.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was beaten in his bid for re-election against ex-U.S. Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman, RadarOnline can reveal
The race ended with the winner getting 61.3% of the vote to Gascón's 38.7%.
The Menendez brothers have been behind bars for over 30 years following the murder of their parents.
Despite some high-profile moves such as seeking an early release from the life without parole sentences of the Menendez brothers and their 35 years behind bars, the one-term Gascón’s defeat was a done deal weeks ago.
Backed by Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Oscar-nominated documentary director Rory Kennedy, former George W. Bush’s appointee Hochman held a double-digit lead over ex-San Francisco D.A. Gascón for most of the campaign.
It was the success of Ryan Murphy’s nine-part Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story which was instrumental in bringing the case back to the headlines.
It was the success of Murphy’s nine-part Netflix series ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ which was instrumental in bringing the case back to the headlines.
Gascón had asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to grant clemency to Erik and Kyle Menendez.
But now Hochman’s win could throw a spanner in the works of them getting out of the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego.
In the D.A. debate last month, Hochman slammed Gascón for the "suspicious" timing of his sudden interest in the case.
Gascón had previously asked Gov. Newsom to grant clemency to Menendez brothers.
Now Hochman is set to go through the Menendez case with a fine toothcomb.
Jackie Lacey, Gascón’s two-term predecessor in the now deeply divided D.A.’s office, an enthusiastic supporter of Hochman, turned on the out-going D.A saying: "I am endorsing Nathan Hochman for District Attorney because I feel a lot less safe than I did four years ago."
Homelessness on the streets all over the county and a perceived increase in crime in L.A. dogged self-declared progressive Gascón through his failed efforts to retain his post.
A legal source said: ‘That doesn’t mean Hochman will pull the plug on the Menendez case with evidence of the sexual abuse they suffered from their father without dispute.’
It now seems that the new D.A., who takes office before a December 11 hearing on a potential resentencing of the brothers that could see them move considerably closer to release from their 1996 imposed sentences, will be going over the case carefully.
A legal source said: "That doesn’t mean Hochman will plug the on the Menendez case with evidence of the sexual abuse they suffered from their father without dispute.
"But with zero dispute that the brothers brutally killed their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home in 1989 with reloaded shotguns, it doesn’t mean he won’t either so the brothers face a few more weeks of uncertainty."
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Lyle and his brother Erik have been behind bars for 35 years after being sentenced to life in prison.
As RadarOnline.com reported, a letter Erik wrote to his cousin eight months before his parents' murder surfaced, in which he claimed his father was sexually abusing him.
Additionally, former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló claimed he was raped by José, an executive at his record label, as a teenager.
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