Menendez brothers: Los Angeles governor delays resentencing of murderers who killed their parents as seen on Netflix show

The Menendez brothers have been in prison since 1996 for the murders of their parents José and Kitty in 1989. While they were portrayed at first as violent killers who were after their inheritance, their version of events, that they were afraid their parents were going to kill them to cover up years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse.

They shot their parents repeatedly in their Beverly Hills home while they watched television. At the time Lyle was 21 and Erik 18. Erik is now 53 and Lyle is 56.

This year’s Netflix drama The Menendez Brothers has brought their story to a wider audience, and they already had several celebrity backers such as Kim Kardashian, who has used her legal training to help with their case.

Last month the then Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón said he would recommend the brothers are re-sentenced for the offences - which would effectively free them. He said they had “paid their debt to society” and wrote to the governor to support them.

But since then Gascón has been voted out and Nathan Hochman, has been elected. He’s a former federal prosecutor who said Gascón’s policies were “pro-criminal directives”.

California’s governor Gavin Newsom will delay a decision on re-sentencing and clemency and “defer to the DA-elect’s review and analysis of the Menéndez case prior to making any clemency decisions”, Newsom’s office said.

“The governor respects the role of the district attorney in ensuring justice is served and recognizes that voters have entrusted District Attorney-elect [Nathan] Hochman to carry out this responsibility.”

Hochman had hit out at Gascón over the timing of his decision in the Menéndez brothers case, two weeks before the election, calling it a “desperate political move”.

Gascón announced a review of the case in October because of new evidence, including a letter written by Erik while his parents were still alive that corroborated his allegations of abuse and an allegation by a member of the band Menudo who said that José Menéndez, a former record company executive, had raped him.

Hochman said in a statement to media he looked forward to putting in the “hard work to thoroughly review the facts and law of the Menéndez case”.

Tammi Menéndez, Erik’s wife, described the developments as frustrating in a post on X.

“It sounds like this case is being used for political manoeuvering rather than focusing on the real issues at hand,” she said.