The incoming Los Angeles district attorney has issued a stern warning to Erik and Lyle Menendez’s fans as a bombshell resentencing hearing approaches.
Nathan Hochman, 60, said the Menendez brothers’ fans might not truly understand their case and their resentencing shouldn’t be rushed, he told the The Daily Beast.
He fears the resurgence in popularity of the case comes from the explosive Netflix series and documentary that covered their crimes – both of which he’s been avoiding ahead of making the big decision.
‘I purposely just didn’t want to see [the shows] because what’s the point? It’s not like I’m going to watch the movie. I’d rather read the book,’ he told The Daily Beast.
‘I have some vague recollections of the case 30 years ago and that’s all the more reason why I feel compelled to…really get deep into the facts.’
Hochman,– who will replace his predecessor George Gascón, who called for the hearing – went on to say that ‘newspaper accounts are wildly inaccurate often on what the true facts of a case looks like.’
Hochman also won’t be blinded by celebrity endorsements from the likes of Kim Kardashian and Cooper Koch, who played Erik in the Netflix series.
One of Gascón’s last acts in office – and one speculated to help boost his reelection campaign – was to ask a judge to resentence the case to manslaughter charges.
Nathan Hochman, 60 – who will replace his predecessor George Gascón , who called for the hearing – said the Menendez brothers’ fans might not truly understand the men’s case and their resentencing shouldn’t be rushed
‘Any time a particular case gets this level of attention, it’s even that more important to get it right,’ he said. The judge is set to make a decision on the Menendez case on December 11, but Hochman has signaled he will ask for an extension as he only takes office on December 2
The judge is set to make a decision on the case on December 11, but Hochman has signaled he will ask for an extension as he only takes office on December 2.
However, the Menendez case is still a ‘high priority,’ he told The Daily Beast.
‘Any time a particular case gets this level of attention, it’s even that more important to get it right,’ he said.
Super fans were hoping the men would be released from prison by Thanksgiving, but Hochman said that wouldn’t be possible as the case is quite complicated.
The brothers, now 53 and 56, will more likely not get out before the end of the year.
Their path to freedom can take one three ways – two of which will have to go before Governor Gavin Newsom.
The brother’s lawyers have filed a habeas corpus petition in May 2023 with a 1988 letter Erik wrote to his cousin where he referred to the abuse from his father.
A hearing on this petition is set for November 26. Another hearing may be called to weigh the evidence afterward.
The Menendez brothers are currently both locked up at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, where both are serving life without parole for the shotgun slayings of their parents
Hochman said the newspapers and Netflix shows on the brothers aren’t 100 percent accurate and super fans do not have all the facts about the case
A second path includes the brothers being resentenced, as Gascón requested in October. Their resentencing hearing takes place December 11.
The Menendez family has pleaded for the men’s immediate release and asked for the parole process to be skipped.
But even if the resentencing is agreed to by a judge, the parole process could take as long as a year – and any decision in favor of release could still be vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
A third pathway to freedom includes Newsom granting the brothers clemency.
‘What matters are the facts. What matters is justice and fairness,’ Newsom previously said about the case. ‘Not treating them any worse because they’re celebrities, not treating them certainly any better because they’re celebrities.’
The Menendez brothers are currently both locked up at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, where both are serving life without parole for the shotgun slayings of their parents.
Both admitted to the gruesome killings, but said they snapped after enduring years of sexual abuse at José’s hands and did it in self-defense.
That argument fell flat at their 1993 trial, with prosecutors successfully arguing that the murders were carried out for financial gain after the brothers went on a $700,000 spending spree in the weeks after their parents’ murder.
As a result, they were both handed life without parole and sent to separate prisons – although they eventually reunited at the San Diego lock-up in 2018.
