Los Angeles’ newly elected district attorney, Nathan Hochman, will tackle Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case if there is no decision before he officially takes office.
“The way I will handle the Menendez case is the way I’d handle every case,” Hochman, 60, said in a Wednesday, November 6, interview with TMZ. “I will thoroughly go over the facts and the law.”
Hochman, the Republican-turned-Independent who defeated current DA George Gascón on Wednesday, per AP News, explained that the brothers’ case includes “over thousands of pages of confidential prison files” that need to be reviewed. At the moment, neither Hochman nor the public have access to the paperwork. Hochman doesn’t take office until December 2.
“I will expeditiously be able to go through all this information,” Hochman told the outlet. “Certainly it will have a high priority as will other similarly situated cases will have a high priority on my desk.”
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In addition to the files, Hochman also would like to complete a thorough review of the “thousands of pages of trial transcripts” and “thousands of pages of exhibits” which includes new information. He also wants to meet with the initial prosecuting team, defense counsel, law enforcement officers and the victims’ family members.
Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, are currently serving life sentences for the 1989 murder of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez. The brothers claimed they were abused by their parents. Details of the alleged abuse were withheld during their 1995 trial. (The case initially went to trial in 1993 but the jury was unable to reach a verdict.)
Hochman added that if he’s put in charge of the case, he will be sure not to delay it but will make sure he has enough time to review the facts.
“If I ask for additional time, it will be the time I actually need to conduct this review — and hopefully no additional time beyond that,” he said. “Because one way or the other then Menendezes, like every defendant, deserves a decision. They deserve a decision first by the DA’s office.”
The lawyer explained that after the DA’s office responds the case would go to the courts then possibly the parole board and Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Hochman reiterated he will “get the work done as fast” as he can.
Gascón, 70, was elected as the Los Angeles DA in 2020. Last month, he publicly supported a second look at Erik and Lyle’s sentence after interest in their case was reignited by the fictionalized Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which dropped in September.
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Gascón recommended resentencing for the brothers plus the possibility of parole. Erik and Lyle’s next hearing is scheduled for December 11, which falls after Hochman takes office.
In October, Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez — who has been married to Erik since 1999 — took to social media to express how “grateful” she was to Gascón for “his courage to seek resentencing,” but noted that she was “disappointed” the political figure didn’t take it a step further with the men’s prison sentence.
Nearly two weeks later, Tammi shared that she is hopeful for Erik to be released by the holiday season.
“Let’s not allow him to spend another birthday, Thanksgiving, or Christmas behind bars,” she wrote via X on Tuesday, November 5. “It’s time for someone to step up and do what’s right!”
