New LA district attorney meets with Menendez brothers’ family as he continues to review the case
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County’s new district attorney has met with the Menendez brothers’ family as he continues to assess their bid for freedom, 35 years after they were convicted of killing their parents.
Nathan Hochman, who took office in December, said Friday that he had a “productive session” with the family members, who shared their thoughts with him on whether the brothers should be released. The meeting lasted approximately three hours.
Brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of the 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Now in their fifties, they started theirs offer for freedom in recent years after new evidence of their father’s sexual abuse emerged in their case. Their lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition — a request for a court to investigate whether someone is lawfully detained — in May 2023, asking a judge to consider the evidence.
The brothers have the support of most of their extended family, who have said they deserve to be free after decades behind bars. Several family members have said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In October 2024, then-District Attorney George Gascon recommended that the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole. Hochman, who ran against Gascon, called it a “desperate political move.”
“By releasing it now, Gascon has obscured the fairness and impartiality of his decision,” he said at the time.
A judge delayed the brothers’ sentencing hearingoriginally scheduled for early December, until late January. Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said he needed time to review extensive evidence and give Hochman time to consider the case.
Hochman said Friday he was still reviewing thousands of pages of prison records to “analyze the rehabilitative aspect of resentencing.” Evidence of rehabilitation could be that you do not engage in illegal activities while incarcerated, that you create organizations that help other inmates, and that you use that time to better yourself, he said.
During the brothers’ original trials, their lawyers argued that this was indeed the case sexually abused by their father. Prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their parents for money. In the years that followed, they repeatedly appealed their convictions without success.
The brothers are being held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.