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Nathan Hochman, who defeated incumbent George Gascón in Tuesday’s election to become the next Los Angeles County district attorney, told CNN he could ask to delay a hearing to have Erik and Lyle Menendez resentenced nearly 30 years after their convictions for murdering their parents.
“Before I can make any decision about the Menendez brothers’ case, I will need to become thoroughly familiar with the relevant facts, the evidence and the law,” Hochman said in a statement.
“I will have to review the confidential prison files for each brother, the transcripts from both trials, and speak to the prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel, and the victims’ family members.”
The statement concludes, “If for some reason I need additional time, I will ask the court for that time.”
Hochman is expected to take office December 2, and the hearing to determine the request made by his predecessor is currently scheduled for December 11 – giving Hochman just nine days to review the case from inside his new office.
In an interview with CNN, Hochman said he would move as “expeditiously” as possible to review the case.
“If I ask for a delay, it won’t be a delay for delay’s sake because I think the Menendez brothers, the victims, family members, the public deserve to have a decision done as soon as it can be done in a thorough manner,” Hochman told CNN on Wednesday.
Gascón made the request last month to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez from life in prison without parole to life in prison with parole for the 1989 killing of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Under California law, the brothers would be immediately eligible for parole because they were younger than 26 when they committed the crimes.
Gascón cited new evidence of years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands their father, the support of all but one of their family members, and behavior demonstrating rehabilitation during their nearly three decades in prison.
“I believe that they have paid their debt to society and the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board, and if board concurs with my assessment … they will be released accordingly,” Gascón said in an October 24 news conference.
Resentencing is not the brothers’ only path to release. Gascón also last week wrote letters to Gov. Gavin Newson supporting the brothers in a bid for clemency, which could free the brothers immediately – possibly before Hochman’s term as district attorney begins. Newsom’s office declined to comment, stating clemency requests were confidential. A lawyer for the brothers has not confirmed to CNN whether they have made a formal clemency request.
The re-examination of the case comes more than 35 years after Jose and Kitty Menendez were fatally shot in their Beverly Hills mansion. Their sons, who were 21 and 18 at the time, were arrested less than a year later, in 1990, and convicted of first-degree murder in 1996.
At their two high-profile trials, the brothers did not deny killing their parents but argued they should not be convicted because they acted in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse by their father. The first trial – one of the first cases to be televised – ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on the charges. In their second trial, much of the defense evidence about sexual abuse was excluded, and the brothers were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
The brothers’ story has taken on new interest following the September release of the Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Netflix also released a documentary on the Menendez case last month, featuring both men discussing what led to the killings.
