Reversing predecessor, LA's new DA opposes resentencing and release of Menendez brothers

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday that he does not support resentencing the Menendez brothers because they have not fully accepted responsibility for killing their parents more than three decades ago.

The district attorney's announcement is a reversal from his predecessor, George Gascón, who told the court last year he supported resentencing the brothers — who are now serving life in prison without parole. Resentencing could lead to their release.

A Superior Court hearing had been set for later this month, but was pushed to April, when a judge is expected to consider resentencing.

Hochman said his office is prepared to go forward with that hearing. But he also talked at length about many of the brothers' actions before and after the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings in Beverly Hills, noting specifically 20 "lies" they told before and after their arrests.

The district attorney stressed that Lyle and Erik Menendez first told authorities their parents were the victims of a mafia hit. They later admitted to killing their parents in self defense because the brothers feared they would be killed.

Hochman said the Menendez brothers need to show they have insight into their actions.

If the brothers "finally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA's office, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies," he said, then the court could weigh that information and determine whether they qualify for resentencing.

Three roads to release

Nathan Hochman, the newly elected Los Angeles County district attorney, attends a Housing Initiative Court session in Hermosa Beach on Nov. 13, 2024.

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Jae C. Hong/AP

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AP

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Late last month, Hochman held a news conference during which he outlined the three distinct ways the Menendez brothers were seeking release from prison: a habeas motion, a request for clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom and a possible resentencing hearing.

Speaking about the habeas motion in particular, Hochman said his office had sent a letter to the court explaining why he believed the motion, which is a legal challenge to incarceration based on evidence, should be denied.

Hochman questioned the credibility of a piece of evidence revealed years after the Menendez brothers were convicted — a 1988 letter from Erik Melendez to a cousin that appeared to support claims that the brothers’ father molested them.

The district attorney said that after the brothers were arrested on suspicion of murder, they resorted to “a continuum of lies” about their parents’ behavior.

The habeas motion does not deal with the question of whether the Menendez brothers have been rehabilitated while incarcerated.

Separately, Newsom’s office announced last month that he had ordered the parole board to conduct a risk assessment of the brothers related to their request for clemency. The state board will examine whether the two would pose “an unreasonable risk to public safety” if they were released.

Background on the case

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of murder in the August 1989 shooting deaths of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. They long maintained that they had suffered years of sexual abuse by their father.

Lyle Menendez is now 57. Erik Menendez is 54.

They went through two high-profile trials in connection with the killings, during which they argued that the killings were the result of imperfect self defense, meaning the brothers killed their parents because they believed genuinely but incorrectly that their lives were in danger.

Ultimately, a jury found each of them guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced them to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Decades later, the case is back in the spotlight after the emergence of several documentaries, many of which focused on the brothers’ claims of abuse. At least one of those documentaries mentions a letter from Erik Menendez to a cousin months before the killings in which he writes about the abuse by his father.

The case has also drawn attention from a new generation of people on social media platforms who say the brothers have paid their debt to society and should be freed.

What Menendez family members say

Additionally, many relatives of the Menendez brothers have said they support releasing the pair. Hochman heard from family members, including one who opposes the brothers' release, before saying last month that the brothers should not get a new trial. At that time, the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition — made up of members of the brothers’ family — said they were disappointed in Hochman's statement.

On Monday, they again expressed disappointment. In a statement released after the news conference, they said Hochman broke his promise to listen to them, keep politics out of this review and look at the full picture of the case.

"Let’s be clear: Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago," the statement reads. "They have apologized for their actions, which were the results of Jose’s sexual abuse and Kitty’s enablement.

"They have apologized for the horrific actions they took," the statement continues. "They have apologized to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives. Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologize to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear."

A judge has to make the final decision on resentencing. A hearing is set for April 11.