There has been a new development in the Menendez brothers’ ongoing quest to have their life sentences reevaluated. In 1996, Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. The siblings were accused of committing this heinous crime as a way to get their parents’ money.
Erik and Lyle contend that they believed it was their only way to escape an abusive household.
The Menendez brothers have a resentencing hearing coming up next month that has been repeatedly rescheduled. Now the Los Angeles County District Attorney (DA) says the siblings have created “a continuum of lies and deceit and fabricating stories.” As a result, DA Nathan Hochman and his office are opposing the brothers’ motions to have their life sentences for the 1989 murders challenged and given new trials.
Hochman’s Thoughts
“We conclude in our informal response that the court should deny the current habeas corpus petition,” Hochman said. “We do not believe they qualify to get a new trial.” He also pointed out the courts have rejected their appeals since they were found guilty almost 30 years ago.
This all comes as their March 20th resentencing hearing draws closer. One of the brother’s biggest pieces of evidence is a letter Erik wrote their cousin Andy Cano in 1988 outlining the alleged repeated sexual abuse by their father.
However, Hochman isn’t sold. “So, to say that this letter was not discovered until after the trial, as it has been alleged in the defense papers, we believe is just wrong,” he said. “We argue in many different ways, it is not credible evidence.”
“It calls into question whether or not this is in fact a 1988 letter written by Erik Menendez to Andy Cano about this sexual abuse,” he added. Deeming this inadmissible due to timing and being “an out of court document.” Hochman reiterated that sexual abuse “does not justify killing your parents,” a quote from a former lawyer for the brothers. Along with reminding everyone that Cano passed away over 20 years ago, therefore cannot validate the letter.
The Menendez Family’s Response
In a letter, the surviving members of the Menendez family condemned the DA’s remarks. “District Attorney Nathan Hochman took us right back to 1996 today,” it reads. “He opened the wounds we have spent decades trying to heal. He didn’t listen to us. We are profoundly disappointed by his remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced. To suggest that the years of abuse couldn’t have led to the tragedy in 1989 is not only outrageous, but also dangerous. Abuse does not exist in a vacuum. It leaves lasting scars, rewires the brain, and traps victims in cycles of fear and trauma. To say it played no role in Erik and Lyle’s action is to ignore decades of psychological research and basic human understanding.”
“We have not made a decision on the resentencing,” Hochman contends. “We are still in the process of not just analyzing trial evidence, but analyzing the rehabilitation and the other evidence that’s required in a resentencing motion.”
Since last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom has also had a petition for clemency for the Menendez brothers. Newsom has said he will not make any move until Hochman is up to speed on the case. However, during the recent announcement the DA kept mentioning that the Governor has “absolutely unilateral full power, Constitutional power” to commute the brothers’ individual sentences.
It’s also worth noting that Assistant DAs Brock Lunsford and Nancy Theberge filed a suit against Hochman’s office for “harassment, discrimination, and retaliation following their recommended re-sentencing of convicted murderers Eric and Lyle Menendez.”
You can read the Menendez family’s full response letter below. Along with a video from Hochman outlining the legal merits of the case.
The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition’s Letter:
“District Attorney Nathan Hochman took us right back to 1996 today. He opened the wounds we have spent decades trying to heal. He didn’t listen to us. We are profoundly disappointed by his remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced. To suggest that the years of abuse couldn’t have led to the tragedy in 1989 is not only outrageous, but also dangerous. Abuse does not exist in a vacuum. It leaves lasting scars, rewires the brain, and traps victims in cycles of fear and trauma. To say it played no role in Erik and Lyle’s action is to ignore decades of psychological research and basic human understanding.
For DA Hochman to claim that new evidence should have been submitted at trial is absurd. The justice system failed Erik and Lyle then, and it continues to fail them now. The fact remains: the jury in their second trial never heard the full truth. Key testimony was kept from them, and now, DA Hochman is attempting to erase this reality once again. He is not just dismissing Erik and Lyle’s experiences, he is silencing survivors everywhere who know what it’s like to be disbelieved, ignored, and retraumatized by a system designed to protect them.
DA Hochman promised to take politics out of prosecutorial decisions, but his actions today say otherwise. If he is truly committed to justice, he will follow the law and issue a resentencing recommendation that reflects Erik and Lyle’s overwhelming rehabilitation, and the undeniable standards set by California Penal Code 1172.1 and AB 600. And he will stop trying to bury the truth about their abuse.
For over three decades, our family has lived with the weight of what Erik and Lyle endured – abuse that shaped their lives, fear that defined their childhood, and a justice system that refused to see them as victims. We have fought tirelessly for the truth to be recognized.
Our hope now rests with Judge Jesic, that he will examine the evidence in their case without prejudice, carefully adhering to California law with modern understanding of trauma.
Our family has been waiting 35 years for the justice system to acknowledge what we have always known. We are so incredibly proud of the men Erik and Lyle have become – men who have dedicated their lives to helping others, despite believing they would never have a second chance. We have fought and advocated tirelessly for their release, so that we can heal and finally move forward. All we are asking for is to right this decades-long injustice.”
