LOS ANGELES (AP) — The new Los Angeles County District Attorney met with the Menendez brothers’ family as he continues to review 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 about three hours.
Brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of murdering Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Now in their 50s, they began their bid 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 examine whether someone is being 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 October 2024, then-District Attorney George Gascon recommended the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole. Hochman, who was running against Gascon, called it a “desperate political move.”
“By releasing it now, Gascon has cast a cloud over the fairness and impartiality of his decision,” he said at the time.
A judge delayed the brothers’ resentencing hearing, originally set for early December, to the end of January. Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said he needed time to review extensive evidence and give Hochman time to weigh in on the case.
Hochman said Friday he was still reviewing thousands of pages of prison records to “analyze the rehabilitation aspect of resentencing.” Evidence of rehabilitation could include not engaging in illegal activity while in prison, starting organizations that helped other prisoners, and using that time to improve oneself, he said.
At the brothers’ original trials, their defense attorneys argued that they had been 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.
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The brothers are being held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.