Some may think of the fates of the Menendez brothers as inextricably entwined, but Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman says he will not consider the pair a package deal when it comes to making a decision on their possible resentencing.
“While they’re called the ‘Menendez brothers case,’ there’s an Erik Menendez case and Lyle Menendez case,” Hochman told NBC’s Lester Holt. “So we will look at each case separately, which is the way they actually should be handled.”
The famous brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 for murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion. This year, the brothers stepped back into the limelight, following two hit TV shows about their case, and a new effort by prosecutors to downgrade their sentence in light of recently emerged evidence.
Former Dist. Atty. George Gascón previously recommended that a judge give the brothers a new sentence of 50 years to life, which would make them eligible for immediate parole.
But then Hochman defeated Gascón in the November election and announced he would reconsider that decision.
In November, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic decided to bump the date of the brothers’ resentencing hearing from Dec. 11 to Jan. 30 and 31. Jesic said he needed more time to review the complex case and give the new district attorney a chance to do the same.
This week, Hochman told NBC News he was hard at work “reading thousands of pages of confidential prison files,” but he did not indicate which way he was leaning. He said that he would speak to everyone in his office who had “ever touched the Menendez case” before making his decision.
However, Hochman recently removed two deputy district attorneys who had worked with Gascón on the recommendation to downgrade the brothers’ sentence, Variety reported.
The brothers’ defense team kicked off the latest effort to free them last year by filing a habeas corpus petition arguing that new evidence bolstered allegations that the brothers were victims of sexual abuse.
In the initial case, prosecutors argued that the killings were motivated by the boys’ desire to secure their $14-million inheritance, while the defense team argued that they were acting in self-defense following years of sexual abuse by their father, Jose Menendez.
The new evidence includes a letter that attorneys say Erik Menendez wrote about the sexual abuse he endured as a teenager prior to committing the killings as well as new claims brought forward by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who said he too was raped by Jose Menendez.
Gascon had previously said he supported the resentencing because he believes societal views on sexual assault of children have evolved dramatically since the initial trials and could lead a modern-day jury to a different verdict.
The brothers’ attorneys are also seeking clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, Newsom said in November that he would delay his decision until Hochman had a chance to review the case.
