This is not the results the Menendez brothers were hoping for…
On Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman finally made his decision on whether or not Erik and Lyle Menendez should be resentenced for killing their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez in 1989.
Late last year, former District Attorney George Gascón shared his support for resentencing. He recommended that their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed and that they instead be charged with murder — which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Given that they were under the age of 26 at the time of the shootings, they would be eligible for parole immediately. So, there was a lot of hope for them — but it has all been dashed with the new DA!
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During a press conference on Monday, per ABC News, Nathan rejected the motion for resentencing, calling the brothers’ claims they committed the murders in self-defense after years of abuse from their father a bunch of “lies”!
After reviewing trial transcripts, prison records, testimony, and speaking with members of the family and other legal professionals involved in the case, the DA announced:
“Our position is that they shouldn’t get out of jail. We bring that position to the court. The court can agree with it, the court can disagree with it or modify it in some respect.”
He noted his office is “prepared to go forward” with their hearing regarding the resentencing, which has been set for March 20 and 21. As for why he’s not siding with them, Hochman argued:
“In looking at whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and complete responsibility for their crimes, they have not. … They don’t meet the standards for resentencing.”
He added that because they “persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury,” they “do not meet the standards for resentencing” or “standards for rehabilitation.” The DA explained:
“If the Menendez brothers, at some point, unequivocally, sincerely and fully accept complete responsibility for all their criminal actions, acknowledge that the self-defense defense was phony and their parents weren’t going to kill them … and finally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA’s office, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies … in the future, the court can weigh these new insights into making a determination as to whether they now qualify for rehabilitation and re-sentencing. And the [DA’s office] will do the same.”
Wow. They either apologize for everything or they’re not getting out!
Nathan also pointed out that a key factor of the case and his decision was the premeditation of the killings. For example, the siblings drove to San Diego to buy guns days before the killings, shot their parents in the kneecaps to make it look gang-related, and planned an alibi by buying movie tickets after, among other things. They “also had the presence of mind to pick up all the shotgun shells” to hide their fingerprints as well as get rid of their dirty clothes and guns.
Furthermore, the DA argued that out of 20 lies they told throughout the case, they have only admitted to four. Suggesting the abuse claims may be a lie as well, the DA pointed out that Erik confessed to the murderers to his therapist, but he never mentions self-defense in the recording. Hochman said:
“They convinced, not just the media, not just the police, but their family and their friends that they were 100% innocent of these crimes, until eventually these tapes came out.”
The “next iteration of the story” came when Lyle allegedly asked his girlfriend to say Jose drugged and raped her before the brothers eventually shared their own abuse claims, which they revealed in court while noting that they thought their parents were going to kill them. Nathan hit back at this, saying “the self-defense defense was a fabrication.”
The former federal prosecutor continued, referencing the therapy tapes:
“What Erik said is that [his father] was a controlling, dominating force, and that is the reason. He said the mother would be a witness to the crime, so she had to die, [and she] was so miserable because the father had an affair … [and] the mother could not live without the father.”
He added:
“[The] brothers have never come clean and admitted that they lied about their self-defense as well as suborned perjury and attempted to suborn perjury by their friends for the lies, among others, of their father violently raping Lyle’s girlfriend, their mother poisoning the family, and their attempt to get a handgun the day before the murders.”
In response to the announcement, Lyle took to Facebook to insist that “of all those ‘lies’ [Hochman] talked about, several of them were admitted/stipulated to in the first trial. … And several other ‘lies’ were absolutely disproven or reasonably disputed.”
Family members also blasted the DA for ignoring “the fact they were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions.” In a statement to the outlet, they furthered:
“Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago. They have apologized for their actions, which were the results of Jose’s sexual abuse and Kitty’s enablement. They have apologized for the horrific actions they took. They have apologized to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives. Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologize to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear.”
They slammed Nathan for his “not-so-veiled insistence” that the men weren’t sexually abused and for sending “a message to every young boy who’s the victim of abuse that they should not come forward.”
Oof.
After so much positive momentum last year, this is certainly not what the brothers were hoping for. While the DA has also asked the court to deny their habeas corpus petition (to review two new pieces of evidence), there’s still a chance Governor Gavin Newsom could grant their request for clemency, their third and final push for freedom.
You can see the full press conference (below):
Thoughts? Are you surprised by this decision?
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
