LA County district attorney’s election defeat adds uncertainty to Menendez brothers' resentencing case

The recent ousting of progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has introduced new uncertainty into the high-profile case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are seeking resentencing nearly 30 years after their convictions for murdering their parents.

Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who defeated Gascón after a campaign claiming the DA’s policies failed to ensure public safety, said on Wednesday he will need time to go over case files before taking a position on the resentencing. Hochman takes office on December 2, and a hearing on resentencing will be held on December 11, News.Az reports, citing CNN.

But legal experts said the potential release of the brothers has already been set in motion, with a court likely to hear soon from loved ones of the Menendez family as well as prosecutors opposed to the decision to resentence them. If the court grants the request, the experts said, it will then fall on the state parole board to approve or deny their release. Still, the experts insist, the case should not be an immediate priority for the newly elected top prosecutor of America’s most populous county – home to nearly 10 million people.

“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. Only then can I make a decision. If for some reason I need additional time, I will ask the court for that time.”

“If I ask for a delay, it won’t be a delay for delay’s sake because I think the Menendez brothers, the victim family members, the public deserve to have a decision done as soon as it can be done in a thorough manner,” Hochman told CNN.

Gascón last month filed a motion recommending a judge resentence the siblings following a review that came after defense attorneys said in 2023 they had new evidence pointing to abuse by their father. Hochman has criticized the timing of the move as a political ploy.

Hochman will have the power to withdraw the office’s resentencing recommendation, USC Gould School of Law professor Aya Gruber said. But she doubts he will go that far.

“Unless there’s some contingency that immediately bubbles up and says, ‘You know, this is horrible. This is a miscarriage of justice,’ I can’t imagine that this is going to be a priority for the new DA,” she said. “It’s definitely not going to be his first order of business.”

News.Az