The newly elected district attorney of Los Angeles County said that he does not support the resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez because, he claimed, the brothers have repeatedly lied about why they killed their parents at their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters Monday during a press conference that his decision hinged on whether the brothers had exhibited “insight and complete responsibility” into lies told during their trial, including their original claim that they did not kill their parents.
Hochman said that they are “prepared to go forward” with the hearing regarding the resentencing case. “However, we are asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing, because we believe there are legitimate reasons and the interests of justice justifies that withdrawal.”
Hochman said their repeated argument that they killed their parents in self-defence does not match the facts of the case that showed premeditated steps to plan the killings and make it look like a gang hit.
“If they were to finally come forward and unequivocally and sincerely admit and completely accept responsibility for their lies of self-defence 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,” Hochman said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman speaks during a news conference about the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, in Los Angeles, California on March 10, 2025.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Hochman compared the Menendez case to that of Sirhan Sirhan, who shot and killed U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
He noted that, like the Menendez brothers, Sirhan had many letters of support and was determined to be a low-risk inmate. Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked his parole in 2022, saying he still poses an unreasonable threat to the public.
Hochman called it an “instructive case” because, like Sirhan, the Menendez brothers “fell short” of taking full responsibility for their crimes.
“They have lied to everyone for the last 30 years,” Hochman said.
“If they acknowledge the lies they have told for over 30 years,” Hochman said, “then we will certainly evaluate the quality of that sincerity.”
Hochman said he would support resentencing in the future if the brothers “finally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA’s office, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies.”
A resentencing hearing is set for March 20 and 21 for the brothers, who are currently serving life without the possibility of parole.
Hochman also noted that the brothers “also had the presence of mind to pick up all the shotgun shells” to try and hide their fingerprints, and then ditched their bloody clothes and weapons after they allegedly shot their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in the kneecaps.
He claims that the brothers told 20 lies and admitted to four, adding that 16 lies remain “unacknowledged.”
“They convinced, not just the media, not just the police, but their family and their friends that they were 100 per cent innocent of these crimes, until eventually these tapes came out,” Hochman said, referencing the tapes in which Erik confessed to his therapist, which were turned over to the police.
Hochman said that the “next iteration of the story” was when Lyle allegedly asked his girlfriend to claim Jose Menendez drugged and raped her.
The brothers later said Erik was raped by their father and Lyle was raped by their mother, according to Hochman.
During their trial, the brothers claimed self-defence, saying they suffered sexual abuse from their father and believed their parents were going to kill them.
“The self-defence defence was a fabrication,” Hochman said.
“What Erik said is that [his father] was a controlling, dominating force, and that is the reason,” Hochman said, claiming that self defence wasn’t mentioned in the confession to the therapist.
“He said the mother would be a witness to the crime, so she had to die, [and she] was so miserable because the father had an affair … [and] the mother could not live without the father.”
Family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez disagreed with Hochman’s assertion that the brothers do not meet the standards of resentencing.
“Let’s be clear: Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago,” the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition said in a statement Monday. “They have apologized for the horrific actions they took. They have apologized to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives.
“Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologize to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear.”
Hochman, who took office in December, said last month that he opposed a new trial for the Menendez brothers.
In October, then-district attorney George Gascón recommended the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole. Hochman called his predecessor’s recommendation a “desperate political move.”
The brothers, who are now in their 50s, were found guilty of the murders of their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez.
They began their bid for freedom in recent years after new evidence of their father’s sexual abuse emerged, and they have the support of most of their extended family.
The brothers have also submitted a clemency plea to Newsom, who had said he would not make a decision until Hochman reviewed the case. Last month the governor ordered the state parole board to investigate whether the brothers would pose a risk to the public if they are released.
On Monday, Newsom said that he would propose a new parole board process similar to the review the Menendez brothers are undergoing that could clear a path for more prisoners to have their sentence shortened.
— With files from The Associated Press