The Menendez brothers will be resentenced later this month, the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced.
Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers who were sentenced to life in prison for killing their parents in 1989, will have their sentences reviewed by a court in Van Nuys on March 20 and 21.
The District Attorney, Nathan Hochman, declared on Monday that he stands by the decision to reconsider their sentences, despite calling their claims of self-defense ‘false.’
Hochman told a press conference he plans to sign a new motion begging the court not to give the killer siblings a lesser sentence.
‘We are prepared to go forward,’ Hochman said in regard to the resentencing hearing.
He also stated, ‘Nevertheless, we are urging the court to retract the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing, as we believe there are valid grounds to do so, aligned with the interests of justice.’
Hochman said the new proposal ‘offers a path’ for Lyle and Erik, adding that it gives them room to decide if they want to admit that their self defense claim was ‘phony,’ and ‘finally come clean.’
The DA took over former LA County District Attorney George Gascón’s position after November’s election.
The Menendez brothers will be resentenced later this month, the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced
District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced that he was upholding the resentencing decision on Monday morning – despite blasting their claims of self-defense as ‘lies’
Gascón initially recommended a resentencing review for the brothers, but Hochman said he opposes any retrial for them after outlining 16 lies that they have not accepted responsibly for out of 20 that were told during their trial.
‘As a full examination of the record reveals, the Menendez brothers have never come clean and admitted that they lied about their self-defense as well as suborned perjury and attempted to suborn perjury by their friends for the lies, among others, of their father violently raping Lyle’s girlfriend, their mother poisoning the family, and their attempt to get a handgun the day before the murders,’ he said.
‘The Court must consider such lack of full insight and lack of acceptance of responsibility for their murderous actions in deciding whether the Menendez brothers pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the community.’
Hochman said that the way in which they decided to accept responsibility is not specific, adding that they can do so through declaration or video, among other options.
The new DA’s announcement comes after California Governor Gavin Newsom asked the state’s parole board to look over the risk of possibly granting the brother’s clemency.
When he first announced he might grant clemency, a spokesperson for Newsom’s office said he respects the role of the new DA.
‘The governor respects the role of the district attorney in ensuring justice is served and recognizes that voters have entrusted District Attorney-elect Hochman to carry out this responsibility,’ they told the New York Times.
Erik and Lyle Menendez are currently serving life sentences for murdering their parents Kitty and Jose in 1989
‘The governor will defer to the D.A.-elect’s review and analysis of the Menendez case prior to making any clemency decisions.’
Erik and Lyle said they were abused by their father Jose, leading them to murder him and their mother Kitty.
Prosecutors found that their claims were false and that they killed their parents for financial gain.
Since then, new documentaries have shed light on their claims, as well as a letter from a cousin who said he was accused, as well as members of the boy band Jose managed.
Recently, Roy Rosello, a former member of the Menudo boy band, came forward with allegations that he was sexually by the RCA Records executive when he was just 14 years old.
He later included the allegations in a habeas corpus petition calling for Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, to be resentenced with the hope that they could receive time served for the more than three decades they spent behind bars for killing their parents.
After Rosello came forward with his allegations, Hochman said he was brutally opposed to resentencing the brothers.
He said Rosello’s allegations were ‘not admissible’ because it has no bearing on the brothers when they killed their parents.
Erik and Lyle (seen in updated booking photo) said they were abused by their father Jose, leading them to murder him and their mother Kitty
Recently, Roy Rosello, a former member of the Menudo boy band, came forward with allegations that he was sexually by the RCA Records executive when he was just 14 years old
‘Sexual abuse in this situation may have been a motivation for Erik and Lyle to do what they did, but it does not constitute self-defense,’ Hochman said at a news conference.
Rosello now says the justice system failed the brothers.
‘The DA want[s] to cover the mistakes they did in the past,’ he told the US Sun.
‘One fatal mistake… was that society was not ready to understand that mens [sic] and boys are abused as well. And the society and the Justice Department never… saw and ignored the victims completely,’ Rosello claims.
‘But now the mentality of people are changing.’
He went on to argue that the brothers never deserved to be sentenced to jail and slammed Hochman for his remarks about the new evidence.
‘For him it is “untrustworthy,” but for me it is! I was there,’ Rosello astonishingly claimed.
‘And it was not only once.’
The singer has said that Jose assaulted him several times after Menudo signed to RCA Records in the 1980s.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
