A family-led coalition trying to secure resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life in prison for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, met with District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Jan. 3, but he has not decided whether he will support any actions that might lead to the brothers’ release.
The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition included more than 20 members of Jose and Kitty Menendez’s family, who organizers said are united in their support for a new sentence that “reflects Erik and Lyle’s abuse, trauma, and demonstrated rehabilitation over the last 35 years.”
Former District Attorney George Gascón had expressed support for resentencing, but Hochman has not yet said whether he will take a similar position, saying he wants the chance to review the voluminous evidence before making a decision.
Following the meeting, which lasted roughly three hours, Hochman called the discussion “productive.”
“It was a very productive session where they gave me all their thoughts about what should happen in this case, their experiences that they wanted to share, the ultimate direction that they wanted this case to go,”
Hochman told reporters. “It was a very productive conversation over a number of hours. Again, I invite, I continue to invite any additional family member … to speak with me, and that forms part of the data set that we will use to determine what the right result should be.”
Hochman noted that he and a team of prosecutors are still reviewing thousands of pages of prison records and transcripts from the brothers’ two trials and appellate court proceedings, and no decision has been made on whether he will support an effort to have their sentences reduced from life without the possibility of parole to a term that might allow them to seek parole. A hearing on the possible resentencing remains scheduled for Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.
After initially canceling plans for a post-meeting news conference, members of the Menendez family ultimately decided to appear before TV cameras briefly to discuss their talk with Hochman. Anamaria Baralt, a niece of Jose Menendez, said the group was grateful for Hochman’s time meeting with them. She said the family is hoping a judge will agree to an immediate reduction of the brothers’ conviction to a lesser charge of manslaughter, which would potentially enable them to be released without the need for extensive parole hearings.
“This 35-year process has been incredibly traumatizing for us, as I’m sure you can all imagine,” Baralt said. “We are very much hoping that we can find a path to manslaughter. That we can see the release of the brothers immediately. To understand that going to a parole board for our family will only serve to retraumatize us more. Two parole boards. Two brothers, again with victim statements. We have had enough. It is a lot. Thirty-five years is a very long time. So we hope that will happen.”
Attorneys for the brothers are pursuing various avenues in hopes of securing their release from prison, contending that new evidence backs the brothers’ claims that they were sexually abused by their father. The pair were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the chance of parole for killing Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez at their home in Beverly Hills on Aug. 20, 1989.
