District Attorney Nathan Hochman of Los Angeles County justified his office’s actions following a judge’s ruling that aligned with their stance against granting the Menendez brothers a new trial.
Citing information that then-teen brothers feared sexual abuse by their father, the Menendez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition seeking a new trial. That new trial, however, was denied on Monday.
Calling the Menendez’s pleas for a new trial in the 1989 slayings of their parents a “meritless motion,” Hochman explained that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan’s ruling affirmed his office’s decision.
“He basically said that the evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would’ve produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror,” Hochman said. “That is how deficient, how meritless, how baseless the evidence that has been presented by the Menendez brothers has been in this habeas motion.”
Hochman has publicly opposed the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez, despite his predecessor, former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, publicly saying they’ve “paid their debt to society.”
Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has also garnered public sympathy for the Menendez brothers.
If the brothers choose to appeal this ruling, Hochman said he expects their claims to be found “utterly meritless” yet again, though he made clear that Gov. Gavin Newsom can still grant the men their freedom.
“The governor can grant them clemency any day he so chooses any day he remains in office,” Hochman said.
Newsom has thus far deferred that decision to the parole board.
