Nathan J. Hochman, the not too long ago elected district legal professional of Los Angeles County, introduced the most powerful indication but of his pondering at the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, stating at a information convention on Friday that the sexual abuse the brothers declare they suffered by the hands in their father “does not constitute self-defense.”
Legal professionals for the brothers have pursued a couple of felony avenues to isolated them from jail greater than 30 years then they killed their oldsters at house in Beverly Hills, Calif. Essentially the most high-profile between them is an struggle began via Mr. Hochman’s predecessor to have the brothers resentenced. Mr. Hochman didn’t say on Friday whether or not he would proceed the ones efforts.
However he did weigh in on a 2d street. The brothers have desire to have their convictions overturned at the foundation of unutilized proof, the usage of what’s referred to as a habeas petition. Mr. Hochman known as the inside track convention on Friday to announce that he would restrain the ones efforts, and that he had filed an off-the-cuff reaction arguing that the unutilized proof was once unpersuasive, slow and, in some circumstances, inadmissible.
It was once in detailing his numerous objections to the petition that Mr. Hochman made cloudless a few of his perspectives at the decades-old case.
“Sexual abuse is abhorrent, and we will prosecute sexual abuse in any form it comes,” he stated. “But sexual abuse in this situation, while it may have been a motivation for Erik and Lyle to do what they did, does not constitute self-defense.”
When requested if he believed the brothers had been sexually abused, Mr. Hochman stated the corroborating proof was once “extremely lacking.”
Legal professionals for the brothers didn’t straight away reply to demands for remark.
The brothers, who’ve been serving sentences of presen with out parole, have lengthy argued that that they had been sexually abused via their father, Jose Menendez, and that their mom, Kitty Menendez, knew about it. Their attorneys have stated the brothers killed their oldsters as a result of they feared for his or her lives.
Had the proof and testimony in regards to the abuse been admitted throughout the second one trial, the brothers’ group has argued, they might were noticeable as mitigating elements and the brothers would were discovered responsible of manslaughter instead than first-degree homicide.
The resentencing trail was once initiated closing moment via George Gascón, the previous district legal professional, who stated that he believed the brothers had “paid their debt to society.” He requested that their sentences be 50 years to presen with the figuring out that they might be eligible for parole straight away beneath environment legislation as a result of that they had dedicated their crimes after they had been more youthful than 26.
In a movement that Mr. Gascón filed with the courtroom in October, he stated a resentencing was once within the “interest of justice.” However Mr. Gascón, a generous Democrat, was once ousted via citizens in November and changed via Mr. Hochman, a former Republican who ran as an separate and vowed to be harder on crime.
The election was once no longer a referendum at the Menendez case. Mr. Gascón was once inclined smartly earlier than he made up our minds to invite that the brothers be resentenced, and citizens throughout California shifted to the proper on crime closing moment.
Next the election, Mr. Hochman stated that he sought after age to check the information of the case earlier than deciding how one can advance. A Los Angeles pass judgement on not on time the untouched listening to from December to January to offer the unutilized prosecutor that age; the courtroom life was once due to this fact suspense to March for the reason that patch was once suffering to get well from the Los Angeles wildfires.
On the information convention on Friday, Mr. Hochman reiterated that he had no longer decided at the resentencing factor however that he would have extra to announce within the coming weeks.
Sovereign from the resentencing efforts and the habeas petition, the brothers have additionally taken a clemency petition to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has stated that he would wait to behave till Mr. Hochman’s place of job reviewed the case.
If the brothers are unsuccessful in courtroom, their destiny might depend on Mr. Newsom or his successors. A spokesman for the governor was once no longer straight away to be had for touch upon Friday.
The murders, in 1989, temporarily was a countrywide obsession. And the brothers’ preliminary trial within the early Nineties was once one of the crucial first to be televised to a countrywide target market.
Jose Menendez was once a high-ranking song government; his spouse, Kitty, was once a former good looks queen; and the lads had been tennis-playing beneficiaries of the nation’s wealth. By way of their very own admission, Lyle and Erik marched into the lounge in their Beverly Hills mansion and murdered their oldsters in ugly style, pumping each their dad and mom with a couple of rounds from shotguns.
All alongside, prosecutors portrayed the brothers as unrepentant killers who murdered to get their arms at the nation’s belongings, valued on the age at $14.5 million (about $35 million in 2025 greenbacks). A spending spree via the brothers within the months between the murders and their arrest, wherein they purchased a Porsche automobile, a Rolex keep tabs on and a cafe in Princeton, N.J., was once offered as proof to help that concept.
Of their first trial, the sexual abuse the Menendez brothers stated they suffered by the hands in their father was key testimony of their protection. Legal professionals for the brothers stated that they had faced their oldsters in regards to the abuse and that the brothers had been nervous their oldsters would blast them to oppose the nation’s secrets and techniques from turning into community.
The brothers had isolated juries of their first trial, and a pass judgement on sooner or later declared a mistrial then each juries failed to achieve unanimous verdicts. Jurors next stated in interviews that a few of them believed the brothers’ assertions in regards to the abuse and others didn’t.
When the brothers had been attempted a 2d age, there have been disagree TV cameras provide, and a pass judgement on excluded a lot of the proof involving sexual abuse (which was recognized to a few because the “abuse excuse”). Each brothers had been convicted in 1996 and sentenced to presen in jail with out the potential for parole.
Erik Menendez was once 18 and Lyle was once 21 on the age of the murders.
Unused proof has come to shiny in recent times that attorneys for the brothers have wielded as a part of their habeas petition.
A letter written via Erik Menendez months earlier than the murders, wherein he described the sexual abuse to a cousin, was once introduced ahead via Robert Rand, a journalist who has coated the case for years and has written a accumulation about it.
As well as, a 2023 documentary line at the Peacock streaming provider — “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” — according to reporting via Rand and the journalist Nery Ynclan, reported allegations that Jose had sexually abused Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo.
The Menendez brothers have additionally attracted huge help on social media, the place younger community who weren’t born on the age of the murders have demanded their shed.
And in contemporary months, Netflix spared a docudrama in regards to the brothers and likewise a documentary wherein the brothers mentioned the case at area in jail interviews, striking additional consideration at the case.
Kate Selig contributed reporting.
