L.A. County D.A. Hochman opposes a new trial for Menendez brothers
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Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman announced Friday that he’s opposing a petition by attorneys for Erik and Lyle Menendez asking the court to take another look at their case amid new sexual assault allegations they say corroborate a history of abuse.
But Hochman stopped short of shutting down the possibility of resentencing the brothers, who are serving life terms for killing their parents, saying he’ll revisit the issue in “the coming weeks.”
The 1989 killing of Jose and Kitty Menendez inside the family’s Beverly Hills home, and the highly publicized trials that followed, sparked documentaries, films and a recent television series that have renewed public interest in the case decades later. Revelations made in the last year have also prompted new consideration of their crimes and pleas for the brothers to be freed.
A habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of the brothers in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2023 argued that new evidence — a 1988 letter sent from Erik Menendez to his cousin saying that he had been abused late into his teen years and allegations made by another man saying they had been raped by Jose Menendez — directly challenged the narrative prosecutors presented at trial and paved the way for their case to be reconsidered.
During a Friday news conference, Hochman said the court should deny the habeas petition and not grant the brothers a new trial because the act of murder was the issue in the conviction, not the sexual abuse allegations. The brothers would have had to have an imminent fear that their parents would kill them over the sexual abuse revelations to have the murders be considered self-defense, he said.
“Sexual abuse is abhorrent, and we will prosecute sexual abuse,” Hochman said. “While it may have been a motivation for Erik and Lyle to do what they did, it does not constitute self-defense.”
Attorneys for the brothers could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
The brothers’ life sentences seemed to be on the way to be reconsidered last year, after then-Dist. Atty. George Gascón said he supported granting them clemency. Gascón asked a judge to rescind the brothers’ prior life sentences without the possibility of parole and instead sentence them to 50 years to life. The move could make them eligible for parole as youthful offenders because they were younger than 26 when they killed their parents.
L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman says he will not consider Erik and Lyle Menendez a package deal when it comes to making a decision on possible resentencing.
Gascón said at the time that he believed the brothers had “paid their debt to society.” But after defeating Gascón in the November election, Hochman has said he intends to review that decision.
Hochman said his team has reviewed over 50,000 pages of trial transcripts and spoken to defense attorneys, law enforcement and prosecutors along with every family member who wanted to discuss the case. He said he plans to give a response to a resentencing request in the coming weeks, which could pave the way for the brothers’ release.
A hearing to determine if the brothers should be resentenced is scheduled for March 20.
In making his case against the brothers’ habeas petition, Hochman focused on several details uncovered during the trial, including what he said was a pattern of “lies and deception” before and during the court hearings, including the Menendez brothers’ changing versions of events around the killings.
The brothers had mentioned the possibility that their parents were targeted by the mafia, solicited a friend to claim that Jose Menendez had raped her, and had not initially mentioned what they said was a history of sexual abuse by their father.
“Erik and Lyle Menendez had told five different versions of what happened,” Hochman said.
In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns with cash, walked into their Beverly Hills home and shot their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.
Police initially speculated that the killings were a mafia hit based on the gruesome scene. The brothers were charged with murder after Erik, who was then 18 years old, confessed the killings to his therapist in March 1990.
During the trial, prosecutors argued the brothers’ motive for killing their parents was rooted in greed — centered on access to their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate. The brothers’ defense attorneys countered that years of violent sexual abuse by their father preceded the shootings, justifying the killings as a form of self-defense.
The first trial ended with hung juries for each brother. In the second, allegations of abuse and supporting testimonies were restricted, and Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.
Since then, the two have pursued appeals for years without success, but recently appeared to reach a turning point.
Attorneys and advocates in 2023 called for the court to take another look at the case amid new sexual assault allegations they say corroborate a history of abuse against the brothers.
A recently discovered 1988 letter that attorneys say was written by Erik Menendez suggests sexual abuse by his father continued into his late teenage years. The letter was allegedly sent to his cousin, Andy Cano, who testified during the brothers’ trials.
Prosecutors have not been able to verify the authenticity of the letter and the document was not brought up in either of the trials when Erik Menendez or Cano testified, Hochman said.
“We believe it’s inconceivable ... and defies common sense that if they had evidence that would show that sexual abuse had been communicated not just six years before the events, but nine months before the 1989 killings, that it would absolutely have come out during one or both of their testimonies,” Hochman said.
Defense attorneys have also argued that new allegations made by a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo suggest the Menendez brothers were not their father’s only victims.
Roy Rosselló, who raised the allegations in the Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” said he was raped in the 1980s by Jose Menendez when he was a teen.
Hochman argued the fact that the brothers did not know about this alleged abuse in 1989 means that it “would not be admissible to show their state of mind” when they carried out the killings.
A group of the brothers’ relatives, who support their release, said in a statement Friday that they were “profoundly disappointed by [Hochman’s] remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced.”
The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, founded by relatives of the brothers, blasted Hochman’s comments, and said the top prosecutor brushed aside the brothers’ allegations.
“Abuse does not exist in a vacuum,” the group said in the statement. “To say it played no role in Erik and Lyle’s action is to ignore decades of psychological research and basic human understanding.”
Two prosecutors who recommended the Menendez brothers be resentenced allege they were demoted by new L.A. County D.A. Nathan Hochman and then defamed by one of his allies.
Hochman’s update on the case comes a day after Erik and Lyle Menendez spoke to TMZ about their time in prison, which they said included attacks and bullying during their early days behind bars.
During the “2 Angry Men” podcast with Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos, the younger of the Menendez brothers, Erik, discussed the “bullying and trauma” he’s endured over the years.
“Prison was hard for me,” he said. “I faced a lot of bullying and trauma — it was a dangerous environment.”
Sources told The Times that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office communicated with the brothers’ legal representation after they described their experiences behind bars. Newsom has said he won’t make a clemency decision on the murder convictions until after Hochman reviews the case.
Their three decades imprisoned could come under scrutiny as part of their appeal for freedom. Hochman has said previously that, before making a decision about resentencing, he needs to review not just the criminal case, but the Menendez brothers prison files and their time behind bars. Hochman must also question whether the brothers have been rehabilitated.
Fellow inmates, attorneys and rehabilitation workers have told The Times the two have become deeply involved in rehabilitation programs, including launching their own projects to promote rehabilitation of inmates in California prisons.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said the door is still open to resentencing based on rehabilitation.
“But given that Hochman talked at length about the Menendez brothers’ lies, I think this is less likely,” Rahmani said. “Although Hochman said he has not made a decision on resentencing, reading the tea leaves, I’m guessing he will oppose.”
Louis Shapiro, a defense attorney, said the announcement made clear that Hochman “won’t entertain weak arguments from Netflix watchers.”
“He is saying they follow the law pure and simple,” Shapiro said. “His demeanor and tone tells you he is not sympathetic to the Menendez brothers’ cause.”
Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.
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