洛杉矶县地方检察官内森·霍奇曼星期一说，他要求法院撤回起诉前任地方检察官的重新定罪动议莱尔和埃里克·梅嫩德斯称兄弟俩的自卫主张是一连串“谎言”的一部分
“我们的立场是他们不应该出狱，”霍奇曼在周一的新闻发布会上说。“我们将这一立场提交法院。法院可以同意，法院可以不同意或者在某些方面修改。”
霍奇曼说，他的办公室“准备继续进行”关于他们重新定罪案件的听证会。
这对兄弟的听证会定于3月20日和21日举行，他们因1989年枪杀父母凯蒂和何塞·梅嫩德斯而被判终身监禁，不得假释。
Hochman认为，因为“兄弟俩坚持在过去30多年里对他们的自卫辩护说这些谎言，并坚持坚持说他们没有买通任何伪证或试图买通伪证，那么他们不符合重新定罪的标准。他们不符合康复标准。”
“如果梅嫩德斯兄弟，在某个时候，明确地，真诚地，完全地为他们所有的犯罪行为承担全部责任，承认自卫辩护是假的，他们的父母不会杀他们...最后向法庭，向公众，向检察官办公室，向他们自己的家人坦白，承认所有这些谎言...将来，法院可以权衡这些新的见解，决定他们现在是否有资格获得改造和重新判刑。检察官办公室也会这么做，”霍奇曼说。
地方检察官说，他的决定是在审查了审判记录、监狱记录和审判证词录像，并会见了梅嫩德斯的家庭成员、辩护律师和过去的检察官之后作出的。
霍奇曼强调了预谋，指出兄弟俩在谋杀发生前几天开车到圣地亚哥用假身份证购买猎枪，在谋杀发生的当晚，他们策划了不在场证明，并去买电影票，他说。
霍奇曼说，在何塞和凯蒂·梅嫩德斯遭到致命枪击后，据称兄弟俩又朝他们的膝盖骨开了一枪，试图让杀戮看起来像是帮派火拼。
霍奇曼说，兄弟俩“还镇定地捡起了所有的猎枪子弹”，试图隐藏他们的指纹，然后他们扔掉了血衣和武器。
霍奇曼说兄弟俩撒了20个谎，但只承认了4个;他说16个谎言仍然“未被承认”
这对兄弟最初宣称他们是无辜的，并说这些谋杀可能是黑手党所为。
埃里克·梅嫩德斯向他的治疗师坦白后，兄弟俩负有责任的真相浮出水面，那盘招供的磁带被移交给了警方。
霍奇曼说:“他们不仅说服了媒体，不仅说服了警察，还说服了他们的家人和朋友，他们100%是无辜的，直到这些录像带最终被曝光。”。
霍奇曼说,“故事的下一个情节”是，据称莱尔·梅南德兹要求他的女友声称何塞·梅嫩德斯下药并强奸了她。
他说，兄弟俩后来说埃里克·梅嫩德斯被他们的父亲强奸了，莱尔·梅南德兹被他们的母亲强奸了。
在审判中，兄弟俩声称是自卫，称他们是父亲性虐待的受害者，并认为他们的父母会杀了他们。
但霍奇曼声称“自卫辩护是捏造的。”
据霍奇曼说，在给治疗师的供词中没有提到自卫。
“埃里克说的是[他的父亲]是一种控制和支配的力量，这就是原因，”霍奇曼说。“他说，母亲将是犯罪的证人，所以她必须死，[她]是如此痛苦，因为父亲有外遇...母亲离不开父亲。”
地方检察官在一份声明中说，“兄弟俩从未坦白承认，他们在自卫问题上撒了谎，并唆使朋友做伪证，并试图唆使朋友做伪证，其中包括他们的父亲暴力强奸莱尔的女朋友，他们的母亲给家人下毒，以及他们在谋杀前一天试图获得一把手枪。”
霍奇曼说，兄弟俩“撒谎，他们作证说，当他们带着猎枪冲进洞穴时，天太黑了，看不见，他们的父母站起来或移动。”
他说，“专家证词显示，在任何时候，父母都是坐在沙发上”或者受伤躺在地上。
霍奇曼说，在谋杀发生的前一天，兄弟俩还“撒谎说他们认为他们的父母会杀了他们”，当时他们正在进行家庭钓鱼旅行。
在霍奇曼的新闻发布会后，莱尔·梅南德兹在脸书上发帖称，“在霍奇曼谈论的所有‘谎言’中，有几个是在一审中被承认/承认的。...和其他几个“谎言”被完全否定或合理的争议。”
希望兄弟俩被释放的梅嫩德斯家庭成员也抨击了检察官的声明，称霍奇曼无视“他们被反复虐待、担心生命安全并为自己的行为赎罪的事实”
“埃里克和莱尔不再是30多年前的小男孩了，”这家人在一份声明中说。“他们已经为自己的行为道歉，这些行为是何塞性侵和凯蒂纵容的结果。他们已经为他们所采取的可怕行为道歉。他们已经向我们道歉了。而且，他们通过帮助改善无数人生活的行动证明了他们的赎罪。然而，达·霍奇曼实际上是在要求他们对自己在震惊和恐惧状态下的一系列行为公开道歉。
这家人还攻击霍奇曼，称他“毫不掩饰地坚持”兄弟俩没有受到性虐待。
Hochman“向每一个遭受虐待的男孩传达了一个信息，他们不应该站出来，”这家人说。
在周一的新闻发布会上，霍奇曼经常提到加州州长加文·纽瑟姆2022年拒绝罗伯特·F·肯尼迪杀手西尔汉·西尔汉假释的决定，称该案是法官应该考虑梅嫩德斯兄弟的先例。
霍奇曼说，尽管西尔汉和梅嫩德斯兄弟一样，在监狱里度过了几十年来改过自新，包括获得学位和参加监狱项目，并且他有支持信，但纽瑟姆拒绝了西尔汉的假释，因为他“未能展现洞察力并完全接受责任”，这使他“对社区构成了不合理的危险”。
法院需要“分析梅嫩德斯兄弟对他们的谋杀缺乏充分的洞察力和缺乏完全的责任是否克服了...霍奇曼说:“其他证明重新判刑合理的因素包括梅嫩德斯在监狱中的时间长度、他们在谋杀发生时的年龄、他们的成长经历和他们经历的任何性虐待、他们在监狱中的广泛康复努力，包括获得教育学位和参与社区和监狱项目、监狱官员和受害者家庭成员的任何支持信、他们的健康状况以及低监狱风险评分。”
10月，当时的洛杉矶县地方检察官乔治·加斯孔宣布他支持对这对兄弟重新定罪。Gascón建议取消他们没有假释可能性的无期徒刑，并表示他们应该以谋杀罪被判刑，这将是50年至终身监禁的刑期。因为两兄弟在犯罪时都不到26岁，在新的判决后，他们将有资格立即获得假释。
地方检察官办公室表示，其重新判决建议考虑了许多因素，包括监狱中的康复以及导致犯罪的虐待或创伤。加森赞扬了莱尔和埃里克·梅嫩德斯在狱中为改造自己和帮助其他囚犯所做的工作。
在加斯东宣布参选几周后，他在竞选连任中输给了霍奇曼。霍奇曼在12月3日上任时，承诺在做出自己的决定之前会审查所有事实。
霍奇曼在周一宣布这一消息的几天前，这对兄弟的一个堂兄弟塔玛拉·古德尔，在给美国检察官办公室民权部门的一封信中抨击了地方检察官。
古德尔指责霍奇曼在1月份与希望兄弟俩获释的家人举行的两次会议上“充满敌意、不屑一顾和居高临下”。她说，“缺乏同情心是显而易见的，这个家庭不仅感到被忽视，还感到进一步的恐吓和再次受害。”
古德尔希望霍奇曼被撤职，此案移交给司法部长办公室。
除了重新定罪，兄弟俩一直在寻求另外两条自由之路。
一个是他们的人身保护令申请，他们在2023年提交了对两项新证据的审查，这两项证据没有在审判中提出:谋杀发生前八个月埃里克·梅嫩德斯写给他表弟的一封信，详细描述了他被父亲虐待的指控，以及一名前男孩乐队成员在2023年透露他被何塞·梅嫩德斯强奸的指控。
霍奇曼在二月份宣布要求法院驳回人身保护令申请认为新证据不可信或不可接受。
第三条自由之路是通过兄弟俩请求宽恕，该请求已提交给纽瑟姆。
2月26日，纽瑟姆宣布命令假释委员会进行为期90天的“全面风险评估”调查兄弟俩是否构成“对公众不合理的风险”，如果他们被赦免和释放。
“这里没有结果的保证，”纽瑟姆说。“但这个过程只是提供了更多的透明度...以及在我做出任何宽大处理的决定之前给我们提供更多的尽职调查。”
Menendez brothers case: DA asks court to withdraw resentencing motion, calls self-defense claims 'lies'
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he's asking the court to withdraw theprevious district attorney's motion for resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, calling the brothers' claims of self-defense part of a litany of "lies."
"Our position is that they shouldn't get out of jail," Hochman said at a news conference Monday. "We bring that position to the court. The court can agree with it, the court can disagree with it or modify it in some respect."
Hochman said his office is "prepared to go forward" with the hearing regarding their resentencing case.
The hearing is set for March 20 and 21 for the brothers, who are serving life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez.
Hochman argued that because the "brothers persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury, then they do not meet the standards for resentencing. They do not meet the standards for rehabilitation."
"If the Menendez brothers, at some point, unequivocally, sincerely and fully accept complete responsibility for all their criminal actions, acknowledge that the self-defense defense was phony and their parents weren't going to kill them ... and finally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA's office, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies ... in the future, the court can weigh these new insights into making a determination as to whether they now qualify for rehabilitation and re-sentencing. And the [DA's office] will do the same," Hochman said.
The DA said his decision comes after reviewing trial transcripts, prison records and videotaped trial testimony, as well as meeting with Menendez family members, defense attorneys and past prosecutors.
Hochman stressed the premeditation, noting the brothers drove to San Diego days before the murders to buy shotguns with a fake ID, and on the night of the murders, they planned an alibi and went to buy movie tickets, he said.
After Jose and Kitty Menendez were fatally shot, the brothers allegedly shot them again in the kneecaps to try to make the slayings look like a gang shooting, Hochman said.
The brothers "also had the presence of mind to pick up all the shotgun shells" to try to hide their fingerprints, and then they ditched their bloody clothes and the weapons, Hochman said.
Hochman said the brothers told 20 lies and have since admitted to only four; he said 16 lies remain "unacknowledged."
The brothers initially proclaimed their innocence and said the murders may have been Mafia hits.
The truth about the brothers being responsible came after Erik Menendez confessed to his therapist and that confession tape was turned over to the police.
"They convinced, not just the media, not just the police, but their family and their friends that they were 100% innocent of these crimes, until eventually these tapes came out," Hochman said.
The "next iteration of the story" was when Lyle Menendez allegedly asked his girlfriend to claim Jose Menendez drugged and raped her, Hochman said.
The brothers later said Erik Menendez was raped by their father and Lyle Menendez was raped by their mother, he said.
At trial, the brothers claimed self-defense, saying they were victims of sex abuse from their father and believed their parents were going to kill them.
But Hochman claimed "the self-defense defense was a fabrication."
Self-defense wasn't mentioned in the confession to the therapist, according to Hochman.
"What Erik said is that [his father] was a controlling, dominating force, and that is the reason," Hochman said. "He said the mother would be a witness to the crime, so she had to die, [and she] was so miserable because the father had an affair ... [and] the mother could not live without the father."
The "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," the DA said in a statement.
Hochman said the brothers "lied when they testified that when they burst into the den with their shotguns, that it was too dark to see and their parents were standing up or moving."
"Expert testimony showed that, at all times, the parents were seated on the couch" or wounded on the ground when shot, he said.
The brothers also "lied when they testified that they thought their parents were going to kill them" on their family fishing trip one day before the murders, Hochman said.
After Hochman's press conference, Lyle Menendez posted on Facebook that "of all those 'lies' [Hochman] talked about, several of them were admitted/stipulated to in the first trial. ... And several other 'lies' were absolutely disproven or reasonably disputed."
Menendez family members who want the brothers released also slammed the DA's announcement, saying Hochman is ignoring "the fact they were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions."
"Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago," the family said in a statement. "They have apologized for their actions, which were the results of Jose's sexual abuse and Kitty's enablement. They have apologized for the horrific actions they took. They have apologized to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives. Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologize to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear."
The family also attacked Hochman for what they called his "not-so-veiled insistence" that the brothers weren't sexually abused.
Hochman "sent a message to every young boy who's the victim of abuse that they should not come forward," the family said.
At Monday's news conference, Hochman frequently referenced California Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2022 decision to deny parole to Robert F. Kennedy's killer, Sirhan Sirhan, citing that case as the precedent the judge should consider with the Menendez brothers.
Although Sirhan -- like the Menendez brothers -- spent decades in prison rehabilitating himself, including achieving degrees and participating in prison programs, and he had letters of support, Newsom denied Sirhan parole because he "failed to exhibit insight and completely accept responsibility," making him "an unreasonable risk of danger to the community," Hochman said.
The court needs to "analyze whether the Menendez brothers' lack of full insight and lack of complete responsibility for their murders overcomes ... the other factors justifying a resentencing like the Menendez's length of time in prison, their age at the time of the murders, their upbringing and any sexual abuse they experienced, their extensive rehabilitation efforts in prison including getting educational degrees and involvement in community and prison programs, any supportive letters from prison officials and victim family members, their health, and the low prison risk score," Hochman said.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA's office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón's announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman. When Hochman came into office on Dec. 3, he promised to review all the facts before reaching his own decision.
Hochman's announcement on Monday comes days after one of the brothers' cousins, Tamara Goodell,slammed the DA in a letter to the U.S. Attorney's Office Civil Rights Division.
Goodell accused Hochman of being "hostile, dismissive and patronizing" during two meetings in January with family members who want the brothers released. She said the "lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized."
Goodell wants Hochman removed and the case turned over to the attorney general's office.
Besides resentencing, the brothers have been pursuing two other paths to freedom.
One is their habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman announced in February that he'sasked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the new evidence isn't credible or admissible.
The third path to freedom is through the brothers' request for clemency, which has been submitted to Newsom.
On Feb. 26, Newsom announced that he'sordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day"comprehensive risk assessment" investigation into whether the brothers pose "an unreasonable risk to the public" if they're granted clemency and released.
"There's no guarantee of outcome here," Newsom said. "But this process simply provides more transparency ... as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency."
