Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday that he does not support resentencing the Menendez brothers because they have not fully accepted responsibility for killing their parents more than three decades ago.
The district attorney’s announcement is a reversal from his predecessor, George Gascón, who told the court last year he supported resentencing the brothers — who are now serving life in prison without parole. Resentencing could lead to their release.
A Superior Court hearing is set for later this month, when a judge is expected to consider resentencing.
Hochman said his office is prepared to go forward with that hearing. But he also talked at length about many of the brothers’ actions before and after the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings in Beverly Hills, noting specifically 20 “lies” they told before and after their arrests.
The district attorney stressed that Lyle and Erik Menendez first told authorities their parents were the victims of a mafia hit. They later admitted to killing their parents in self defense because the brothers feared they would be killed.
Hochman said the Menendez brothers need to show they have insight into their actions.
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,” he said, then the court could weigh that information and determine whether they qualify for resentencing.
Three roads to release
Nathan Hochman, the newly elected Los Angeles County…
Read the full article here
