LA DA Nathan Hochman meets with Menendez family ahead of resentencing

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman met Friday with the family of Lyle and Erik Menendez as the new top cop weighs resentencing the brothers.

The meeting and subsequent press conference came after the Menendez family called for a new sentence that “reflects Erik and Lyle’s abuse, trauma, and demonstrated rehabilitation over the last 35 years.”

“As we prepare to meet with DA Hochman, our family is hopeful for an open and fair discussion,” the family said in a statement released Thursday evening ahead of the meeting with Hochman. “Despite the abuse they endured as children and the unfairness of their current sentence, Erik and Lyle Menendez have spent the last three decades taking responsibility for their actions and contributing positively to their community through leadership and rehabilitation.”

The brothers are serving life sentences without parole for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in their Beverly Hills, California, mansion. The case returned to the national spotlight after former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón voiced his support for resentencing.

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At a press conference, the newly sworn-in district attorney said the meeting with the family was “productive.”

“It was a very productive session where they gave me all their thoughts about what should happen in this case, their experiences that they wanted to share, the directions that they wanted this case to go,” Hochman said. “It was a very productive conversation over a number of hours.” 

The district attorney said his office is working diligently to review the thousands of pages of transcripts and court records from the case.

“Right now, the resentencing hearing is set for Jan. 30 and 31. That date is the date we’re working against. And if that changes, we will certainly let you know,” he said. “We will continue to do this difficult but important work of reviewing the facts of the law to make the right decision in this case.”

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Hochman said his office expects to have a decision by the Jan. 30 hearing date.

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Hochman did not reveal what he spoke about with the family, saying it was an “informal, off-the-record conversation.”

“We’re going to spend the time necessary to get this decision right,” he said. “There’s not a lot of free time in my life right now, but that’s OK. I didn’t sign up for a job that said I was going to have a lot of free time.”