洛杉矶县地方检察官内森·霍奇曼说，只有当莱尔和埃里克·梅嫩德斯兄弟承认他所说的几十年的谎言时，他才会重新考虑对他们重新定罪。双倍下注他在周三接受美国广播公司新闻采访时阐述了自己的立场。
“如果他们在30多年来第一次真诚而明确地承认他们的全部犯罪活动和所有谎言，”霍奇曼告诉美国广播公司新闻首席国家记者马特·古特曼，他将愿意建议重新定罪。
在此之前，霍奇曼上周宣布，他要求法院撤回其前任的重新定罪动议，认为这对兄弟不符合重新定罪或改造的标准，因为他们“在过去30多年里坚持对他们的自卫辩护撒谎。”
当被古特曼问到他是否有每个谎言的清单时，霍奇曼说，“我确实有。”
霍奇曼说:“这份清单的本质是，他们必须最终承认，在30年后，他们故意、故意、有预谋地杀害了他们的父母，而不是因为他们认为他们的父母当晚会杀了他们。”
霍奇曼说，他的办公室已经确定了自谋杀案发生之日起他们所说的20个谎言，这对兄弟已经承认了其中的4个，还有16个谎言“是他们自卫的本质”仍然没有得到承认。
这对兄弟因1989年枪杀他们的父母基蒂和何塞·梅嫩德斯而被判终身监禁，不得假释。
当被问及他是否认为兄弟俩应该死在监狱里时，霍奇曼说，“我个人的信仰完全无关紧要。”
“我所做的是在每个案件中遵循事实和法律，”他说。
霍奇曼回避了兄弟俩是否确实如他们和幸存的家庭成员几十年来所说的那样，受到了父亲的性虐待。但是霍奇曼强调，性虐待从来不是他们的辩护理由。
“在12年中，没有任何人——无论是另一个成年人、朋友、教练还是老师——报告任何接受者信息，证明在这12年中发生了性虐待。但是审判时有证据吗?是的。是梅南德兹夫妇用于一级谋杀的辩护吗?绝对不会，”霍奇曼说。“这就是我们关注的焦点。”
希望兄弟俩被释放的梅嫩德斯家庭成员说，兄弟俩忍受了可怕的虐待，已经承认有罪并道歉，并反驳了霍奇曼坚持兄弟俩没有遭受性虐待的说法，其中一个堂兄打电话给地方检察官色调“充满敌意，不屑一顾，居高临下。”
当古特曼问他是否理解这个家庭希望兄弟俩被释放的愿望时，霍奇曼说，“我理解。”
“我绝对看到了他们信仰的真诚，他们希望梅嫩德斯兄弟下台。100%，”他说。
洛杉矶县地方检察官办公室撤回重新判决申请的听证会定于4月11日举行。
地方检察官办公室表示，根据法院届时的判决，重审听证会可能会在4月17日和4月18日举行。
关于他是否会上诉，如果法官决定兄弟俩应该被假释委员会看到，开始重新判决的道路，霍奇曼说，“我们当然会看法官对任何重新判决的理由，如果法官做了他的工作，看了所有的因素，得出了不同于我们的结论，但法律也会支持，我们不会上诉。”
霍奇曼说，如果案件向前发展，假释委员会将向加利福尼亚州州长加文·纽瑟姆提交他们的建议，然后他可以接受或推翻他们的建议，或者让整个假释委员会进行权衡。
霍奇曼最初宣布撤回3月10日重新定罪的动议，称兄弟俩的自卫主张是一连串“谎言”的一部分。新闻发布会后，莱尔·梅南德兹在脸书上发布消息称，“在[霍奇曼]谈论的所有这些‘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。”
霍奇曼的前任乔治·加斯孔(George Gascón)在10月份宣布，他支持为兄弟俩重新定罪。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。
地方检察官办公室当时表示，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。
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。
霍奇曼宣布的今年2月，他要求法院驳回人身保护令申请，认为新的证据不可信或不可接受。
第三条自由之路是通过兄弟们的请求温和，已提交至Newsom。
2月26日，纽瑟姆宣布，他命令假释委员会进行为期90天的“全面风险评估”调查，以了解如果兄弟俩获得赦免并获释，他们是否会“对公众构成不合理的风险”。
DA says he would reconsider resentencing only if Menendez brothers admit to 'lies'
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said he would reconsider resentencing Lyle and Erik Menendez only if the brothers admitted to what he said are decades of lies,doubling downon his stance in a new interview with ABC News on Wednesday.
"If they sincerely and unequivocally admit for the first time in over 30 years, the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it," Hochman told ABC News chief national correspondent Matt Gutman that he would then be willing to recommend resentencing.
The remarks come after Hochman announced last week that he's asking the court to withdraw his predecessor's motion for resentencing, arguing that the brothers do not meet the standards for resentencing or rehabilitation because they "persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense."
Asked by Gutman if he has a checklist of each individual lie, Hochman said, "I actually do."
"The essence of that checklist is that they'd have to finally admit after 30 years, they killed their parents willfully, deliberately and in premeditated fashion, not because they believed that their parents were going to kill them that night," Hochman said.
Hochman said his office has identified 20 lies that they have told since the day of the murder, and that the brothers have admitted to four of them while there are 16 additional lies "that are the essence of their self-defense" that remain unacknowledged.
The brothers are serving life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez.
Asked if he believes the brothers deserve to die in prison, Hochman said, "My personal belief is completely irrelevant."
"What I do is I follow the facts and the law in each case," he said.
Hochman deflected on whether the brothers were definitively sexually abused by their father, as they, and surviving family members have stated for decades. But Hochman stressed that sex abuse was never their defense.
"There was no additional corroboration of anyone in 12 years -- whether it was another adult, a friend, a coach, a teacher -- who reported on any recipient information that the sexual abuse occurred during those 12 years. But was there evidence presented at trial? Yes. Was it the defense that the Menendezes used to first-degree murder? Absolutely not," Hochman said. "That is what we have focused on."
Menendez family members who want the brothers released have said the brothers endured horrific abuse, have admitted guilt and apologized, and have pushed back against Hochman's insistence that the brothers weren't sexually abused, with one cousin calling the district attorney'stone"hostile, dismissive and patronizing."
Asked by Gutman if he understands the family's desire to have the brothers released, Hochman said, "I do."
"I do absolutely see the sincerity of their belief, that they want the Menendez brothers out. 100%," he said.
A hearing on the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office's motion to withdraw the resentencing petition is scheduled for April 11.
Depending on what the court decides then, a resentencing hearing may be set for April 17 and April 18, the district attorney's office said.
On whether he would appeal if the judge decides that the brothers should be seen by a parole board, beginning the pathway for resentencing, Hochman said, "We would certainly look at the judge's justification for any resentencing, and if the judge does his job and looks at all the factors and reaches a different conclusion than us, but one that the law also would support, we would not be in a position to appeal that."
If the case moves forward, a parole board would submit their recommendation to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can then accept or reverse their recommendation, or have the entire parole board weigh in, Hochman said.
Hochman initially announced the move to withdraw the motion for resentencing on March 10, calling the brothers' claims of self-defense part of a litany of "lies." Following the press briefing, 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."
Hochman's predecessor, George Gascón, announced in October that 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 at the time that 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.
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.
Hochmanannouncedin February that he's asked 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 forclemency, which has been submitted to Newsom.
On Feb. 26, Newsom announced that he's ordering 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.
