Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman will meet with the families of Lyle and Eric Menendez on Friday to weigh in on the new top cop's resentment towards the brothers.
The meeting and subsequent press conference came after the Menendez family asked for a new sentence that “reflects Eric and Lyle's past 35 years of abuse, trauma, and rehabilitation.”
“As we prepare to meet with Prosecutor Hochman, the family looks forward to an open and fair discussion,” the family said in a statement released Thursday night ahead of the meeting with Prosecutor Hochman. “Despite the abuse they suffered as children and the injustice of their current sentences, Eric and Lyle Menendez have for the past 30 years taken responsibility for their actions and actively contributed to their communities through leadership and rehabilitation. I have done so.”
The brothers are serving life sentences without parole for shooting their parents to death with shotguns in their Beverly Hills, California mansion in 1989. The case received national attention again after former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon announced his support for re-sentencing.
Menendez brothers angry at being pushed back, Judge Eyes in late January
According to the New York Daily News, Lyle (left) and Eric (right) are pictured in a 2023 mug shot. After years apart, they moved into the same housing unit at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego in 2018, officials said. (California Department of Corrections)
Lyle (left) and Eric Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson (right) during a hearing in Beverly Hills District Court on November 26, 1990. (AP Photo/Nick Utt)
The newly sworn-in district attorney said at a press conference that the meeting with the family was “productive.”
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“It was a very productive session where they talked about what they thought should happen in this case, the experiences they wanted to share, and everything they thought about the direction of this case,” Hochman said. “It was a very productive conversation that lasted several hours.”
Nathan Hockman speaks at a press conference in Los Angeles on September 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Damien Dovarganes, File)
The district attorney said his office is diligently reviewing thousands of pages of transcripts and court records in the case.
“Right now, reconsideration hearings are set for January 30th and 31st. That's the date we're working with. And if that changes, we'll be sure to let you know. ” he said. “We will continue this difficult but important work of considering the facts of the law to make the right decision in this case.”
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Hochman said he expects his office to make a decision by the Jan. 30 hearing date.
Watch FOX NATION: MENENDES BROTHERS: Victims or Villains?
Hochman declined to say what he discussed with the family, saying it was an “informal, off-the-record conversation.”
“We will take the time necessary to get this decision right,” he said. “I don't have a lot of free time in my life right now, but that's okay. I didn't sign up for a job that meant I had a lot of free time.”
