Menendez brothers: LA DA speaks out ahead of resentencing hearing

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Sunday held a press conference to discuss several criminal justice issues, including the resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers scheduled for Thursday. 

What they're saying:

"There were two paths to actually get to resentencing. The court actually initiated its own motion and we had said all along that we were prepared to go forward with the court's own motion," Hochman said. 

"The prior district attorney though had also filed an additional motion to get to resentencing, and we had sought to withdraw that motion because that motion failed to do any examination. on whether or not the Menendez brothers had completely accepted responsibility for the full breadth of their criminal actions," he added.

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On Friday, a judge ruled to move forward with the resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, despite opposition from Hochman.

Hochman said the brothers really haven’t shown remorse and that they continue to lie about what happened back in 1989. 

"The Menendez brothers said, ‘look, we killed our parents.’ But they did more than that over the last 30 years, starting in the trials all the way to the present day. They basically concocted a self-defense defense, where they said, 'it's not about sexual abuse, why we killed our father.' They actually said that explicitly in trial… that it was not the reason they killed their father and their mother. They said that they believe that their parents were going to kill them the night of August 20th, 1989, so they had to brutally shotgun them first before their parents killed them. We have shown that that is a complete fabrication, that they had a pre-planned alibi put in place before the shootings, that they'd bought shotguns two days before under fake names and a fake address down in San Diego, so the shotguns wouldn't be tracked to them," Hochman said.

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"Not only did they concoct a self-defense defense that was a complete fabrication, but they also tried to get their friends to lie on their behalf. They tried to get their friends to say that their dad was a violent rapist - that was one of Lyle's girlfriends that was approached. She refused to do that. They tried to get another of Lyle's girlfriends to say that the mom tried to poison them. We showed that actually was something that the girlfriend initially testified in the first trial, but they found a script that Lyle had written for her word for word for her testimony, showing that it was a complete fabrication," he added.

"So again, we show that the Menendez brothers to this very day have continued to believe or continue to assert falsely that their parents tried to kill them that night and then concocted all these additional lies. They have never come clean with that, and what we have categorically said, is that if and when the Menendez brothers sincerely and unequivocally come forward and come clean with all their lives, except responsibility for the full breath of their criminal conduct, then the district attorney's office would be prepared to reconsider its opposition to resentencing, because at that moment in time, if they did it sincerely and un-equivocaly, they will be effectively rehabilitated. So it's not enough to just say, ‘I killed my parents' when you've gone ahead and perpetrated all these additional lies and cover-up and continue to perpetrate those additional lies in cover-ups to this very day. 

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Hochman said while his office has heard from both sides - those who believe the brothers should be resentenced and those who believe they shouldn't - he urges the public to "look at all the facts."

"What my job is, is to present the judge with the facts and the law so that the judge makes the best decision. The prior DA left off half the story for the judge. That's why we asked to withdraw that motion, still believing that we would go forward with a resentencing hearing where we can present the Judge with all the facts and let the facts play out as they may."

The backstory:

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted in 1996 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills. Their defense claimed self-defense due to years of alleged abuse, while prosecutors argued the murders were financially motivated.

In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers' allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father -- a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, eight months before the August 1989 killings, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager.

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What's next:

The re-sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin next Thursday, April 17 in Van Nuys.