Atty, Los Angeles County. Nathan Hochman announced Monday that he would oppose res to his brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez, who served 30 years later at the back of the bar for the murder of his parents in 1989.
Old dist. Atty. Last year, George Gascone recommended that a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court reconsidered the brother’s previous life sentence without the possibility of parole and instead gave him 50 years. The move may have qualified for parole as a youthful offender because they committed a crime while under the age of 26.
Hochman filed a motion to withdraw the Gascon’s request in Los Angeles Superior Court, presented an analysis of the facts of the case that was far less favorable to the brothers, and raised questions regarding the validity of the Self-Defense Claim. The move presents evidence of the plan and attempts by the brothers to cover their tracks.
Hochmann said at a press conference that the brothers lied to police shortly after the murder and created an alibi.
“Menendez’s brothers have been lying about self-defense for over 30 years, claiming the actual fear that their mother and father were trying to kill them on the night of the murder,” Hochman wrote in the motion. “And over the last 30 years, they have not been able to accept responsibility for the vast number of lies they have spoken about in connection with their defense.”
In 1989, the Menendez brothers purchased a shotgun with cash and stepped into the Beverly Hills mansion, shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was hit five times, including the kneecap and behind his head, while Kitty Menendez raw the floor and the brothers would release a deadly explosion and fire a deadly explosion.
The brothers were charged with murder after Eric, who was 18, confessed to murdering a therapist. During the trial, prosecutors alleged that the siblings had killed their parents and had access to millions of dollars in inheritance. However, the defense attorney rebutted that years of violent sexual abuse by his father preceded the shooting, justifying the killing as a form of self-defense.
Decades later in prison, the brothers are pursuing several possible paths to freedom: generosity, responsiveness, petitions for habeas, based on new evidence that they will directly challenge the prosecutors of the stories presented at trial.
The petition filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2023 pointed to a 1988 letter sent by Eric Menendez to his cousin Andicano, saying he was abused in his late teens. He also mentioned allegations made by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boys’ band Menudo.
Last month, Hochman announced that murder was a matter of conviction and opposed to granting a new trial to his brother, rather than a sexual abuse allegation. The brothers would have had to have the pressing fear that their parents would kill them with reported sexual abuse, he said, in order for the murder to be considered self-defense.
At a press conference Monday, Hochman said if the brothers accept full responsibility for criminal activity, his office would reconsider whether they should be released, as if their parents had not killed them on the night of August 20, lying after the murder.
Until that happens, “they don’t meet the standards of responsiveness,” Hochmann said. “They don’t meet rehabilitation standards.”
While judges are expected to consider the brother’s responsive request, legal experts say the process can be challenging without support from Hochman.
“Without the blessings of the DA, the Menendez brothers are in a difficult battle,” Louis Shapiro, a criminal defense lawyer who doesn’t represent the brothers, told The Times.
Atty, Los Angeles County. Nathan Hochman will speak at a previous press conference on the case of Eric and Lyle Menendez.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
Still, the brothers continue to pursue other paths that could lead to release.
Last month, Gaving Gavin Newsom directed the state’s parole board to begin a risk assessment investigation into whether the Menendez brothers pose an irrational risk to the general public if released.
The brothers submitted a generous application to Newsom’s office last year, saying the governor would make a decision on the request after an expected board investigation within 90 days.
The murder and the highly publicized murder trial of the brothers sparked documentaries, films and recent Netflix series that have maintained public interest in the case decades later. A conversation about how sexual abuse allegations were handled during trial prompted an enhanced legal effort for siblings’ freedom.
The first trial ended with each brother’s ju apprentice. Second, allegations of abuse and support testimony were restricted, and Lyle and Eric Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder.
Justice for Eric and Lyle Coalition, a family-led initiative advocating for the release of their brothers, said in a statement Monday that Eric and Lyle apologised for their actions, which was the result of sexual abuse that allowed them to be abused by their father and mother.
The family pointed out the brothers’ work in prison rehabilitation programs as evidence of their tone crime.
“District Attorney Hochman revealed today that he holds hostages for Eric, Lyle and our family. He appears to be sticking to their trauma-driven response to the 1989 murder. “How many times do we need to hear the same attempts to bury who they are today and tear us apart in that painful time?”
Hochmann’s relationship with nearly 20 Menendez relatives, whose brothers want to be released from prison, has apparently harbored a crater since taking office last year.
Last month, the family expressed concern when they learned that the brothers had demoted and transferred two lawyers they allegedly resented under former Dist. Atty. Gas container. Attorneys Nancy Deberge and Brock Lansford filed notices of the claims, the predecessor of the lawsuit.
Tamara Goodell, the brother’s cousin who supports his release, filed a complaint last week with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the U.S. Lawyer’s Office, alleging that Hochman had violated his rights as a victim under Mercy’s law. She accused Hochman of bias towards her brother.
Goodell wrote that when the 20-year-old family of his brother met Hochman in January, the district attorney had a “hospitable, negative and patronizing tone” that “created a threatening, bullying atmosphere, leaving us, the victims, and felt even more painful and humiliated.”
“Instead of focusing on the trauma and concerns expressed by the family, Da Hochman shifted the focus of the meeting to himself, not an opportunity to hear and respect the victim’s voice, but to lectures on how he is treated personally. The lack of compassion was obvious, and the family felt not only ignored their feelings, but also had been further threatened and altered,” she wrote.
The letter highlighted the family was concerned about the involvement of Cathy Caddy, the director of the Victims Department within the district attorney’s office. Caddy previously represented Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Anderson, who opposed the possibility of his brother’s release from prison. Anderson passed away this month, according to his new lawyer, RJ Drieling.
In the letter, Goodell demands that Cady be banned from participating in the case, Hochman is responsibly responsible, and demands that the Attorney General take over the case in order to “ensure fairness and impartiality.” Hochman states that Cady was “walled” because of her involvement in decisions about the fate of her brother, and the section of the office she oversees has no resentment or guilt issues or post-conviction issues.
It is not clear what Goodell’s complaints can bring about the case, if any. Neither the CDCR nor the US law firm would have the authority to remove Hochman from the case. Former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson said the family would have to file a disqualification complaint with the judge.
By meeting with his family, Hochmann said he complied with Mercy’s laws, which effectively serves as a bill of rights to California’s victims of crime. Levenson said there is no part of the law that requires Hochman to be “eager” in his family’s wishes.
Former federal prosecutor Neema Ramani said the letter provides fascinating insight into the meeting between the Menendez family and Hochmann, but the complaint is unlikely to promote action by federal prosecutors.
“The federal government is not going to be involved in state cases to enforce state laws, and generally speaking, Mercy’s law allows victims to be heard, but there is no actual enforcement mechanism,” Ramani said.
Times staff writer Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.
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