Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is reversing yet another policy of his predecessor, George Gascón, by attempting to withdraw support for re-sentencing the Menendez brothers for the murder of their parents.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted in 1989 of murdering their parents, and sentenced to life without parole. Gascón set the two brothers on track for parole after recommending a re-sentencing that would allow them to qualify.
As the Associated Press reported in October 2024:
After an initial mistrial with a hung jury for each of the brothers, they were convicted of killing their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, and sentenced to life without parole in prison.
The brothers’ attorneys never disputed the pair killed their parents, but argued that they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father. Much of the evidence related to abuse was excluded from their second trial.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said his office would recommend the brothers be given a sentence of 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole since they were under the age of 26 when the crime was committed.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) also leaned toward parole by conducting a “risk assessment investigation” of the brothers.
But Hochman plans to reverse Gascón’s decision, the Westside Current reported:
Hochman told reporters that prosecutors are prepared to proceed with a hearing next Thursday and Friday in Van Nuys on the court’s initiation of resentencing proceedings for the two brothers — but asked the court to allow the District Attorney’s Office to withdraw a motion filed under previous D.A. George Gascón’s administration because “in no way, shape or form did they deal with what we believe to be one of the key issues … (which is) the exhibition of full insight and complete responsibility for one’s crimes.”
The district attorney said prosecutors have offered a path to the Menendez brothers in which they would have to “accept complete responsibility” for their criminal actions and acknowledge that their claim that the murders were committed in self-defense was “phony.”
“But for now, while the Menendez brothers 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, then they do not meet the standards for re-sentencing,” Hochman said.
A group that advocates for the Menendez brothers accused Hochman of “holding Erik, Lyle and our family hostage.”
Hochman was elected on a law-and-order platform to replace the George Soros-backed Gascón, who outraged many people in Los Angeles County with a radical criminal justice “reform” agenda that coincided with a crime wave.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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