Gavin provides a brief update on the Menendez brothers.
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This is Gavin Newsom. So when I started the podcast, I made the point that I wanted to reach out to people I disagree with and do so in a civil way to have a dialogue people I agree with. But I also made a commitment to all of you that I wanted to break news. After all, I'm the current governor of California. I make decisions on a daily basis, and I thought it was important on some critical decisions to bring people in to the decision making process. And of course a lot of attention has been given as of late, particularly with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's announcement earlier in this week about the Menandez brothers and the Menandez brothers case. There's been a lot of inquiries. A lot of folks like you have reached out and have asked, is that influencing a determination for clemency? Does what the DA just said, Does that influence the process that's being conducted by our Board of Parole hearings. It doesn't. It may influence the court. The court resentencing will continue to go forward. The DA now the new DA is pulling back recommending from the Menendez brothers to be re sentenced, But it doesn't impact the processes underway that review for clemency in my office or the independent risk assessment that will be concluded on June thirteenth by the Board of Parole Hearings. And I'll repeat that, on June thirteenth, both Lyle and Eric Menendez independently will have their final hearing. A report then will be submitted to me on the thirteenth of June for consideration. We will submit that report to the judge for the resentencing, and that will weigh into our independent analysis of whether or not to move forward with the clemency application to support a commutation of this case. So this was a very significant announcement from the DA this week, but it doesn't fundamentally change the facts as it relates to the independent investigation in my office the Board of prole Hearings, or fundamentally change or alter the process that's underway with the resentencing. It just changes the recommendation from one supporting with the previous DA in la resentencing and one now with the current DA opposing it. I get to question a lot about celebrity and whether that has an impact on decisions decisions for the court, decisions that we make as it relates to applications for clemency, this commutation. And it's a great question because I think it cuts both ways. Yes, celebrity ways. It has an impact, but in what direction does it weigh? Sometimes it's used actually against people because they're so high profile, they're actually held to a higher level of scrutiny and standard. At the same time, you don't want that celebrity also to influence on the other side. So it's a balancing act. But I'm deeply mindful of it, and that's why it's critical that our team independently stress tests the nature of celebrity, and that's why I move forward with the Board of Parole hearings to independently review with a group of experts for psychologists and others. The facts of this case not born by any bias because of celebrity. So a lot of people have asked me if you watched any of these Netflix series, if you see any of the dramatizations around the Menendez brothers, including more recently Ryan Murphy's dramatization. The answer is no, I've not seen one. I've seen a few clips here and there on social media, and I don't intend to watch these series because I don't want to be influenced by them. I just want to be influenced by the facts. I'm obviously familiar with the Menendez brothers just through the news over the course of many decades, but not to the degree that many others are because of all of these documentaries and all of the attention they've received. So that won't bias my independent and objective review of the facts. And again, it's not just my independent objective review of the facts. It will also be made by my staff, my team that does this kind of work on a consistent basis. So on June thirteenth, we will have the Parole Hearing Board recommendation as it relates to the risk assessment as it relates to the forensic psychologist, and that recommendation, that assessment, that independent analysis will help guide the decision making that my office is independently reviewing as it relates to the clemency application.