The Los Angeles district attorney said Monday he does not intend to support resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who confessed to killing their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
New District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who took office in December, said last month that he opposed a new trial for the Menendez brothers. The brothers were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
At a news conference on Monday, Mr. Hochman said his decision hinged on whether the brothers demonstrated “understanding and full responsibility” for the lies they told during their original trial, including their early claims that they did not kill their parents.
He added that their repeated claims that they killed their parents in self-defence were inconsistent with the facts of the case, which indicated a deliberate move to stage the killings and present them as a gangland attack.
“They've been deceiving everyone for the last 30 years,” Mr. Hochman said.
Mr. Hochman drew parallels between the Menendez case and that of Sirhan Sirhan, who shot and killed U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He noted that, like the Menendez brothers, Sirhan also had numerous letters of support and sought to become a low-risk prisoner.
However, Governor Gavin Newsom denied him parole in 2022, saying he still poses an unreasonable threat to society.
Mr Hochman described it as a “teachable case” because the Menendez brothers also “failed” to fully accept responsibility for their crimes.
The county's top prosecutor said he would support future resentencing if the brothers “finally tell the truth to the court, to the community, to the district attorney, to their families and admit to all of these lies.”
A resentencing hearing is scheduled for late March, and Mr Hochman said the court may decide to hold it.
In October, former District Attorney George Gascón recommended that the brothers' cases be resentenced to 50 years to life, which would have made them eligible for immediate parole. Mr. Hochman called his predecessor's recommendation “a desperate political move.”
The brothers, now in their 50s, were convicted of the murders of their father, entertainment manager Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez.
In recent years, they have begun fighting for their freedom after new allegations of sexual abuse by their father and
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
