Convicted killers Erik and Lyle Menendez’s bid to be freed has hit a roadblock as the new district attorney is accusing them of being liars.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced he is against resentencing the Menendez brothers, who are imprisoned for murdering their parents in 1989 and were featured in the Netflix series Monsters.
Hochman said Erik and Lyle, now 54 and 57 respectively, lied to cops after the murders and have refused to take full responsibility.
On Monday, Hochman filed a motion in superior court to rescind former District Attorney George Gascón’s recommendation last year to resentence the brothers and possibly allow them to be released on parole.
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‘The Menendez brothers have continued to lie for over 30 years about their self-defense – that is, their purported actual fear that their mother and their father were going to kill them the night of the murders,’ stated Hochman in the motion.
‘Also, over those 30 years, they have failed to accept responsibility for the vast number of lies they told in connection with that defense.’
The brothers fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion over 35 years ago. Erik was 18 and Lyle 21 at the time. They have argued that they father sexually and emotionally abused them for years and that they acted out of self-defense.
In October, Gascón said new evidence included a letter Erik apparently wrote detailing abuse before the killings, and that it could have led to a different sentence for the brothers.
‘I came to a place where I believe, under the law, resentencing is appropriate,’ said Gascón at the time.
‘I believe they have paid their debt to society.’
But Hochman, who assumed office in December, believes ‘the self-defense was a fabrication’.
‘They’ve told 20 different lies,’ Hochman said.
‘There are 16 lies that remain to this day.’
He said the brothers admitted to their lies in a 911 call and also lied to authorities in saying that their parents were killed in a mafia hit.
Their resentencing hearing will still go forward on March 20 and 21, despite Hochman’s move to withdraw his predecessor’s motion.
The brothers could have another path to freedom, as California Governor Gavin Newsom is considering a clemency petition that has reached his desk.
Newsom on Monday modified the state parole process to allow the parole board to issue recommendations on commutations to the governor.
‘Justice may be blind, but we shouldn’t be in the dark when determining if someone is rehabilitated, safe, and ready to leave prison,’ stated Newsom.
‘This new process will help further ensure victims and district attorneys are part of the commutation process and improve public safety by front-loading the risk assessment like we’re doing in the Menendez case.’
The brothers are being held at the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
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