Prosecutor Hochman meets with the Menendez family and says he has not decided whether he will recommend the brothers’ release from prison.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Friday that he met with the family of the Menéndez brothers, but has not yet decided whether to recommend their release from prison.

Hochman described the meeting with the family as “productive” but noted that more work remains to be done to review thousands of pages of information related to the high-profile murder case.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of their parents in 1989. They long maintained that they had suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

The high-profile case has since returned to the national spotlight, and some of their relatives have called for the couple to be re-sentenced and freed.

Friday was the first time Hochman officially intervened in the case after his predecessor, George Gascón, recommended resentencing at the end of last year.

A judge has to make the final decision and a hearing date is set for end of january.

At a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, Hochman said he and his staff
They were reviewing transcripts from two trials, appeals court decisions and confidential prison records. They are also speaking with prosecutors and defense attorneys who were involved in the Menendez case.

As part of that effort, Hochman said, he agreed to meet with the Menendez family.

“Several family members of the victims attended; it was a very productive session where they gave me all their thoughts about what should happen in this case, the experiences they wanted to share, the final direction they wanted this case to go,” he said. .

Hochman told reporters that the information family members provided would be part of the “data set” he would use to determine what the correct outcome should be.

How do we get here?

Lyle Menendez, 56, and Erik Menendez, 54, have been imprisoned for nearly 35 years after they were arrested and later convicted of the murders of José and Kitty Menendez. They were tried twice in connection with the murders. The first trial ended with a hung jury.

After being arrested, the brothers never denied killing their parents, who were shot multiple times while watching television in their home on August 20, 1989. The brothers said they feared for their lives after years of abuse.

His claims were met with skepticism. Prosecutors argued they were motivated by greed.

Late last year, Gascón filed a petition with Superior Court recommending the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life in prison, which would make them eligible for parole. At a news conference in October, he cited new evidence that he said supported the brothers’ claims of abuse and that he believed they had “paid their debt to society.”

Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic is handling the case. He said he postponed the hearing, originally scheduled for December, so he could review 17 boxes of information about the case and “out of respect for the new administration.”

Hochman was elected district attorney in November, defeating Gascón in a controversial race to head the country’s largest prosecutor’s office.

The Menendez brothers dominated the headlines during both highly publicized trials in the early 1990s. They drew new attention recently based on social networks, television programs and documentaries who focused on the case.

One of those documentaries, released last year by Netflix, mentions new evidence: a letter written by Erik Menéndez to a cousin months before the murders in which he writes about abuse by his father.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, who represents the brothers, said he obtained a statement from Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Menudo gang, claiming that José Menéndez also sexually abused Rosselló in the 1980s.

José Menéndez was an RCA executive who signed the band to the label.

Menéndez relatives speak

With new attention on the case, more than a dozen members of the Menendez family have called for the brothers’ release, including their aunt Joan Andersen VanderMolen. She has said she struggled for years with what happened to her younger sister’s family.

“(As) the details of Lyle and Erik’s abuse came to light, it became clear,” he said, “that their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two children trying to survive the unspeakable (cruelty) of his father.”

Not all family members agree.

Milton Anderson, brother of Kitty Menéndez, has said through his lawyer that the new evidence in question does not justify the actions of the two brothers, who “meticulously planned and executed the cold-blooded murders of their parents.”

The court hearing is scheduled for January 30 and 31.

Civics and Democracy LAista correspondent Frank Stoltze contributed to this report.