L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that he will recommend to a superior court judge that Lyle and Erik Menendez, the two brothers found guilty of murdering their parents in 1989, be resentenced.
If a judge agrees, their sentence could change from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole, and that could clear the way for the Menendez brothers to be released from prison after serving almost 35 years behind bars.
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Nathan Hochman is a candidate for L.A. County district attorney running against the incumbent George Gascón, and he has, as others have, questioned the timing of Gascón's decision to examine the case.
In a statement provided to KNX News, Hochman said, in part;
"D.A. George Gascón received the Menendez habeas corpus petition in May 2023 and request for resentencing in February 2024. Yet, he has waited until days before the November 5 election, 30 points down in the polls with articles coming about how his failed policies have led to additional murders of innocent people, to release his recommendation for resentencing..."
In an exclusive interview with KNX News, Hochman doubled down on the statement, telling KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman, "George Gascón at any point could have said, back in 2023 or early 2024 we're gonna go forward with the resentencing motion, but he has kept the Menendezes in prison... he thinks that he can divert voters' attentions away from his public safety record of failure onto this made-for-T.V. decision that he announced [Thursday]."
While Hochman was quick to call his opponent out for the questionable timing, he tempered himself when asked whether it was the right decision or not.
"In order to answer that question, I would have to have access to the confidential thousands of pages of prison files. I would have had to have reviewed the trial transcripts, spoken to the prosecutors, spoken to defense attorneys, met with and spoken to the experts, and reviewed all the evidence," he said. "I'm not in a position right now since I don't have that access or haven't done that thorough review to answer whether or not this particular resentencing request was appropriate."
The two candidates faced off in a contentious debate on KNX News where Hochman was adamant he would take a "hard middle approach" as DA, which he said would not lead to mass incarceration, as Gascón had suggested.
Hochman said his approach, "Look[s] at each case individually, and we make the smart effective and proportional approach so that the crime is the punishment is proportional for the crime committed," and this is how he said he would handle the Menendez case if it becomes his responsibility.
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