Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he’s asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, which aimed to reduce the prison terms of the Menendez brothers. Erik and Lyle are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of their parents in 1989.
Hochman said at a news conference Monday that “we are prepared to go forward” with the hearing regarding their resentencing case, adding: “however, we are asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing, because we believe there are legitimate reasons and the interests of justice justifies that withdrawal.” The request to withdraw the resentencing motion is “based on the current state of the record and the Menendez brothers’ current and continual failure to show full insight and accept full responsibility for their murders. If they were to finally come forward and unequivocally and sincerely admit and completely accept responsibility for their lies of self-defense and the attempted suborning of perjury they engaged in, then the Court should weigh such new insight into the analysis of rehabilitation and resentencing — as will the People.” The resentencing hearing is set for March 20-21.
In October, former-LA County District Attorney George Gascón said he supported resentencing for the brothers and recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed. Gascón stated the brothers should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life; and because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The announcement comes weeks after Hochman said he opposed a separate effort from Erik and Lyle Menendez that sought to challenge their convictions with what their lawyers described as new evidence in the case. Additionally, it comes just days after one of the brothers’ cousins, Tamara Goodell, slammed the DA in a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division, with accusations that Hochman was being “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” during two meetings in January with family members who want the brothers released. She said the “lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized.” Goodell wants Hochman removed and the case turned over to the attorney general’s office.
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, shot and killed their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home back in 1989. While the defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors alleged that the Menendez brothers killed their parents for money. Their first trial ended in a mistrial; however, the brothers were both convicted in 1996 after heir second trial, and sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
The brothers have also sought their freedom through clemency, which has been submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.. Last month, Newsom announced that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released. Newson said at the time: “there’s no guarantee of outcome here, but this process simply provides more transparency … as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”
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