Fight for release

Prosecutor opposes trial for Menedez brothers

Setback for the Menendez brothers: The new Los Angeles district attorney has spoken out against the brothers' request for a new trial.

(Bild: California Dept. of Corrections via AP, File)

The brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, convicted of murder, have suffered a setback in their efforts to be released. The new district attorney of Los Angeles, Nathan Hochman, spoke out on Friday (local time) against the brothers' request for a new trial.

He expressed doubts about newly introduced evidence. He recommended that the competent court reject the brothers' application, Hochman announced. A court hearing is scheduled for the end of March.

Behind bars since 1990
The brothers, now aged 54 and 57, have been behind bars since 1990. They were arrested six months after a shocking bloody deed in fashionable Beverly Hills. There they had shot their wealthy parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in the living room of their family home.

The new district attorney of Los Angeles, Nathan Hochman, spoke out against the brothers' request for a new trial on Friday (local time).

(Bild: Photo by Frederic J. BROWN)

According to Hochman, his team reviewed more than 50,000 pages of old trial documents, consulted with attorneys and investigators and spoke with family members of the brothers. At present, the public prosecutor's office is still considering a further application for a possible new conviction with a lower sentence.

Allegations of abuse
Initially, the brothers denied the crime. They later explained that they had been sexually, psychologically and physically abused by their parents for years and had acted out of fear of them. In the first criminal trial against the millionaire sons, there were accounts of years of abuse by their father. But in the end, the trial collapsed - the jury could not unanimously agree on a verdict in 1994.

In a second trial in 1996, the brothers were found guilty of double murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of release. In this trial, the judge responsible had largely prohibited statements about the alleged sexual abuse. According to the public prosecutor's office, the brothers killed out of greed in order to get their hands on their parents' assets.

Netflix reopened the story
The case is now back in the headlines. Two Netflix productions have reopened the murder and justice spectacle. The brothers have submitted a petition for clemency to Californian Governor Gavin Newsom and their lawyers are insisting that the sentence be overturned.

Two Netflix productions have brought the Menendez brothers' case back into the public eye.

(Bild: Photo by VINCE BUCCI)

Hochman's predecessor, district attorney George Gascón, had argued for a new conviction with a lower sentence last year. He suggests that in the 1990s there was less awareness of men as victims of sexual violence. If a judge approves this, the brothers could be released some 35 years after their arrest.

Relatives want the brothers to be released
The Menendez brothers are being held in a prison in San Diego, Southern California. At a hearing last November, two of the brothers' aunts stood up for their nephews in the courtroom. No child should have to suffer what happened to Erik and Lyle, said Joan Vandermolen, the 93-year-old sister of the murdered Kitty Menendez, according to US broadcaster CNN. Teresita Baralt (85), sister of Jose Menendez, also campaigned for the release of her nephews.