Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said he would only reconsider his stance on resentencing imprisoned brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez if they admit to a list of compiled “lies” they have told about the 1989 killings of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez.
On March 10, Hochman announced that he was reversing the decision of his predecessor, former L.A. DA George Gascón, and motioning to withdraw a request for resentencing for the Menendez Brothers. At the time, Hochman cited “lies” and fabricated evidence allegedly created by the brothers as his reasons for doing so. In a new interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Hochman revealed what it would take for him to consider making the same recommendation as Gascón.
Hochman said that if Lyle and Erik “sincerely and unequivocally admit, for the first time in over 30 years, the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it,” he would be open to recommending resentencing. The DA said the two incarcerated men have continued to “persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense.”
When asked if he has a list of said “lies,” Hochman replied, “I actually do,” and noted that his office has compiled 20 that the brothers have purportedly told over the last three decades about their parents’ murders that form the “essence of their self-defense” case. He explained, “The essence of that checklist is that they’d have to finally admit, after 30 years, they killed their parents willfully, deliberately and in premeditated fashion, not because they believed that their parents were going to kill them that night.”
Lyle and Erik are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hochman was also asked in the interview whether he personally thinks the two men deserve to die in jail. “My personal belief is completely irrelevant,” he said. “What I do is I follow the facts and the law in each case.”
The brothers, as well as other members of their family, have maintained that the two suffered intense sexual abuse from their father José. In October 2024, Gascón revealed that he supported their resentencing and recommended that their life sentences be altered to 50-year murder charges with the possibility of parole. Were that change to take place, the Menendez brothers would be immediately eligible for parole.
A hearing on Hochman’s motion to withdraw Gascón’s resentencing petition is currently set for April 11. Depending on whether the court accepts the DA’s motion, a resentencing hearing may still end up taking place on either April 17 or 18. Hochman, for his part, does not necessarily dispute the Menendez brothers’ claims of sexual abuse, but he argues that it was not an element of their initial defense and, therefore, not relevant to his decision.
“There was no additional corroboration of anyone in 12 years — whether it was another adult, a friend, a coach, a teacher — who reported on any recipient information that the sexual abuse occurred during those 12 years,” Hochman said. “But was there evidence presented at trial? Yes. Was it the defense that the Menendezes used to first-degree murder? Absolutely not. That is what we have focused on.”
If the appointed judge decides to go against Hochman and grant the brothers a resentencing hearing, the DA said, “We would certainly look at the judge’s justification for any resentencing, and if the judge does his job and looks at all the factors and reaches a different conclusion than us, but one that the law also would support, we would not be in a position to appeal that.”
In addition to their resentencing hopes, the Menendez brothers also filed a habeas corpus petition in 2023 offering new pieces of evidence to support their sexual abuse claims and dispute the legality of their sentences. In February, Hochman said he had asked the court to deny the petition — arguing against the credibility of the submitted evidence.
The brothers have also filed a request for clemency to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In February, the governor ordered a parole board to perform a 90-day “risk assessment” evaluation into whether or not the brothers represent “an unreasonable risk to the public.”
Both the brothers’ clemency request and potential resentencing would ultimately go through Newsom. If the latter case moves past Hochman’s withdrawal request, a parole board’s recommendation would subsequently be submitted to Newsom, who could choose to either accept or reject it.
