Incoming Los Angeles DA May Pour Cold Water Over Possible Menendez Brothers Release

California Dept. of Corrections via AP,File

After some speculation that Erik and Lyle Menendez could be released from prison, a new Los Angeles County District Attorney may have the final say.

Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, beat current LA Country DA George Gascón on Election Day. Last month, Gascón filed a motion recommending that the two brothers — who are currently serving life sentences for murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 — be resentenced given new evidence in their case related to claims of abuse by their parents. Gascón said that while the sentence was appropriate for the crimes committed, “I just think that given the current state of the law and given our assessment of their behavior in prison, they deserve the opportunity to be re-evaluated and perhaps reintegrated into the community.” A hearing for December 11 was announced, and Hochman is set to take office on December 2.

With the case in Hochman’s hands, he said that he would be reviewing the details of the case before making a decision. Without giving any indication on what his position was, Hochman told CNN: “If I ask for a delay, it won’t be a delay for delay’s sake because I think the Menendez brothers, the victim family members, the public deserve to have a decision done as soon as it can be done in a thorough manner.”

The reason there’s a question is because of the differences in approaches by Gascón and Hochman. Voters seemingly rejected Gascón’s progressive reforms to the criminal justice system, siding with Hochman’s claim that those policies were detrimental to Los Angeles’s public safety. Hochman ran as an independent and said Gascón “miserably failed to protect our residents, leading to a spiral of lawlessness.”

The brothers have been the subject of renewed attention on their case thanks to Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and a new Netflix documentary that both brothers participated in. The case has also received new attention on social media, especially among TikTok users, who have put a spotlight on the abuse claims through a different, more sympathetic lens.