Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday that he had withdrawn a recommendation to reduce the prison sentences of Erik and Lyle Menendez, citing what he called the brothers’ “continual failure to show full insight and accept full responsibility” for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Last October, Hochman’s predecessor, George Gascón, recommended the court lower the brothers’ sentences from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. Since Erik and Lyle were both under 26 at the time of the crime, such a sentence would make them eligible for parole immediately. Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for re-election to Hochman.
Hochman said the request to withdraw is “based on the current state of the record” and left the door open to supporting resentencing, with some conditions.
“We are requesting that the prior District Attorney’s motion for resentencing be withdrawn,” Hochman said in a statement. “The basis for that request is that the prior motion did not examine or consider whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and taken complete responsibility for their crimes by continuing for the past over 30 years to lie about their claims of self-defense.”
In 1996, the brothers were convicted of shooting and killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion seven years before. Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, claimed they were abused by their father and described the killings as self-defense. During the trial, prosecutors argued the sexual abuse allegations were false and said the brothers killed their parents for financial reasons.
The decades-old case was thrust back into the spotlight after the release of the 2024 Netflix scripted series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” Although Erik initially criticized the show’s portrayal, Lyle said recently he was “grateful” for the renewed public interest the Netflix series brought to the case.
“The media and Ryan Murphy’s project was very widely disseminated, and it really did actually move a lot of people to understand the childhood trauma that Erik and I suffered, and particularly the horrific stuff that Erik suffered,” Lyle said on a podcast.
Last month, Hochman urged a judge to reject the Menendezes’ request for a new trial. Tamara Goodell, a cousin of the brothers, has asked for the district attorney to be removed from the case, accusing him of being “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” to the family during a Jan. 2 meeting.
“The lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized,” she wrote in a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division. Goodell requested the case be turned over to the attorney general’s office. In his statement, Hochman said the request to withdraw the resentencing motion is “based on the current state of the record” and left the door open to supporting resentencing in the future, with some conditions. “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,” he wrote. Although Hochman removed the office’s prior request, the court will proceed with the resentencing hearing set for March 20 and 21.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
Latest Post
Recommended
