New LA DA gives surprising update about how Menendez brothers case will be handled
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s names are rarely mentioned without each other, but Los Angeles’ new district attorney said their fates could be separate.
“Although they are called the ‘Menendez brothers case,’ there is an Erik Menendez case and a Lyle Menendez case,” said District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who ousted former District Attorney George Gascón. NBC Lester Holt.
“So we’re going to look at each case individually, and that’s the way they should actually be handled.”
The brothers, ages 53 and 56, are currently serving life sentences without parole for fatally shooting their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
Gascón announced during his failed re-election campaign that the LA Attorney General’s Office would review the case after the brothers’ second trial, in which they were convicted of murder, failed to show the abuse they suffered.
Gascón recommended a judge give the brothers a new sentence of 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole.
After Hochman’s victory, he said he would reevaluate the case, but that the brothers would not leave as quickly as their supporters had hoped.
Still, Hochman described his office’s pace in the case as “fast,” with a hearing set for Jan. 30.
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s names are rarely mentioned without each other, but Los Angeles’ new district attorney said their fates could be separate.
“Although they are called the ‘Menendez brothers case,’ there is an Erik Menendez case and a Lyle Menendez case,” Nathan Hochman said. ‘So we will look at each case separately, and that is also the way it should be handled’
“I’m reading thousands of pages of confidential prison records,” the new district attorney told Holt.
Hochman went on to say that criminal sentencing law requires prosecutors to look at each person involved individually and assess how they fit the crime.
He is also aware of the seriousness of the case and how the ruling will shape retention requests in the future.
“We have to be consistent,” he said.
Although the district attorney has taken no further action, he recently fired two deputy district attorneys who worked with his predecessor to recommend that their sentences be reduced, police said. Variety.
Hochman has spoken out about his disdain for Gascón’s handling of the case, claiming the former prosecutor used it to seek publicity.
However, the brothers’ family agreed with Gascón and are asking for the men’s release, as they were victims of sexual abuse by their father.
Two alternates also have one Archive of 57 pages in October declared that the brothers had been fully rehabilitated and recommended their sentences be reduced.
“We now understand that public safety is not best achieved through excessively harsh sentences that disregard rehabilitation,” the filing said.
The brothers, ages 53 and 56, are currently serving life sentences without parole for fatally shooting their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
Former District Attorney George Gascón announced during his failed re-election campaign that the LA District Attorney’s Office would review the case after their second trial, in which they were convicted of murder, and failed to prove the abuse they suffered
They argued that the brothers were “transformed” and “benefited from meaningful opportunities to mature, leave criminal thinking behind, convert and become productive members of the community.”
DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Lyle had an affair with a British university student he met online.
Sources say Lyle is so smitten with blonde Milly Bucksey, 21, that he has even told her he wants to divorce his devoted wife – who he married in 2003, the month before his new love was born.
“Lyle is crazy about Milly,” an insider with knowledge of the romance told DailyMail.com. “And she calls him her boyfriend, even though he’s married.”
The romance first blossomed earlier this year, when Lyle spotted Milly on a Facebook group in his name run by his wife Rebecca Sneed, 55.
According to those familiar with the situation, he initially approached her under an alias before confessing his true identity to the beaten student.
Since then, their romance has heated up and even led to Lyle being picked up by prison guards at San Diego’s maximum-security Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility for possessing a smuggled cell phone that he used to contact his new friend.
An account of that incident was included in Gascón’s memo, which was filed in Los Angeles in late October. It showed that on March 15 he was caught with the phone in the cell he shares with ‘several other people’.
Despite being caught, DailyMail.com discovered that Lyle had acquired a second illegal mobile phone, which he used to keep in touch with the University of Manchester student.