A month before a repeatedly rescheduled resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers, the Los Angeles County District Attorney today called out the siblings for “a continuum of lies and deceit and fabricating stories.”
In a sometimes vivid and sometimes dense press conference in downtown LA, Nathan Hochman revealed his office is opposing efforts by the siblings to have their life sentences for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents challenged and given new trials. “We conclude in our informal response that the court should deny the current habeas corpus petition,” the DA said Friday. “We do not believe they qualify to get a new trial,” he went on to say, listing off the courts that have previously rejected the Menendez’ appeals since they were found guilty of first degree murder almost 30 years ago.
He also released a video outlining his office’s take on the case. Watch it below.
As a hearing on the separate matter of resentencing looms for March 20, D.A. Hochman Friday essentially rejected evidence presented by the brothers and lawyers in recent years as a method of seeking a new trial or perhaps even early release from their life sentences for the murders of their parents. Specifically, the evidence in question is a 1988 letter between Erik Menendez and his cousin Andy Cano on the repeated sexual abuse that was allegedly being perpetrated by the siblings’ father on Lyle Menendez and others.
“So, to say that this letter was not discovered until after the trial, as it has been alleged in the defense papers, we believe is just wrong,” the D.A. said. “We argue in many different ways, it is not credible evidence.”
“It calls into question whether or not this is in fact a 1988 letter written by Erik Menendez to Andy Cano about this sexual abuse,” Hochman added, noting inadmissibility on issues of timing and because it is “an out of court document.” Quoting from a former lawyer for the brothers, Hochman reiterated over and over that sexual abuse “does not justify killing your parents.”
In a letter today, rhe Menendez family condemned Hochman’s “abhorrent dismissal of abuse evidence,” saying in part, “District Attorney Nathan Hochman took us right back to 1996 today. He opened the wounds we have spent decades trying to heal. He didn’t listen to us. We are profoundly disappointed by his remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced.” Read the letter in full below.
Saying that he has still not spoken to the siblings themselves, the DA also made a point of stating that Cano died over 20 years ago, so no one can ask him about the letter now.
As he has since even before his landslide election in November, Hochman once again Friday offered no indication on his and his office’s role on the resentencing element, except to say that something will be filed in the next two weeks. “We have not made a decision on the resentencing,” the DA asserted. “We are still in the process of not just analyzing trial evidence, but analyzing the rehabilitation and the other evidence that’s required in a resentencing motion
The brothers’ case has come back into the headlines in no small part because of new evidence of sexual abuse by the boys’ music executive father revealed in Peacock’s 2023 docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, and more recently, Ryan Murphy’s nine-part crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which launched on Netflix on September 19. Those shows were followed by a Menendez docu on the Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters-run streamer, and advocacy for the brothers from the likes of Kim Kardashian and a number of the killers’ family members.
Fighting a tough and ultimately unsuccessful reelection race, then-DA George Gascón took up the long-settled matter and started advocating for the siblings on a multitude of fronts. That all fell in Hochman’s lap when he took over a few months ago.
Today’s presser and news also comes after some conversations between Gavin Newsom and members of the Menendez family who want to see their relatives free. The Governor has had a petition of clemency for the siblings in front of him since late last year, but Newsom declared he would not make any move until Hochman got up to speed. As if offering a challenge to Newsom, the DA today repeatedly brought up that the Governor has “absolutely unilateral full power, Constitutional power” to commute the brothers’ individual sentences any time he likes
Amidst friction with the new-ish D.A, I hear that there was an incident when Hochman met with family members about their concerns that his office has hired a lawyer who represented an uncle of the siblings who does not think they should be released.
Add to that, two Assistant DA’s are suing the office after being moved out of the roles in the Menendez case. Earlier this month, Brock Lunsford and Nancy Theberge filed a suit against the District Attorney for “harassment, discrimination, and retaliation following their recommended re-sentencing of convicted murderers Eric and Lyle Menendez.”
Here is Hochman’s video outlining his office’s take on the case; below that is the full letter from The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a family-led initiative advocating for the brothers’ release:
“District Attorney Nathan Hochman took us right back to 1996 today. He opened the wounds we have spent decades trying to heal. He didn’t listen to us. We are profoundly disappointed by his remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced. To suggest that the years of abuse couldn’t have led to the tragedy in 1989 is not only outrageous, but also dangerous. Abuse does not exist in a vacuum. It leaves lasting scars, rewires the brain, and traps victims in cycles of fear and trauma. To say it played no role in Erik and Lyle’s action is to ignore decades of psychological research and basic human understanding.
For DA Hochman to claim that new evidence should have been submitted at trial is absurd. The justice system failed Erik and Lyle then, and it continues to fail them now. The fact remains: the jury in their second trial never heard the full truth. Key testimony was kept from them, and now, DA Hochman is attempting to erase this reality once again. He is not just dismissing Erik and Lyle’s experiences, he is silencing survivors everywhere who know what it’s like to be disbelieved, ignored, and retraumatized by a system designed to protect them.
DA Hochman promised to take politics out of prosecutorial decisions, but his actions today say otherwise. If he is truly committed to justice, he will follow the law and issue a resentencing recommendation that reflects Erik and Lyle’s overwhelming rehabilitation, and the undeniable standards set by California Penal Code 1172.1 and AB 600. And he will stop trying to bury the truth about their abuse.
For over three decades, our family has lived with the weight of what Erik and Lyle endured – abuse that shaped their lives, fear that defined their childhood, and a justice system that refused to see them as victims. We have fought tirelessly for the truth to be recognized.
Our hope now rests with Judge Jesic, that he will examine the evidence in their case without prejudice, carefully adhering to California law with modern understanding of trauma.
Our family has been waiting 35 years for the justice system to acknowledge what we have always known. We are so incredibly proud of the men Erik and Lyle have become – men who have dedicated their lives to helping others, despite believing they would never have a second chance. We have fought and advocated tirelessly for their release, so that we can heal and finally move forward. All we are asking for is to right this decades-long injustice.”
