Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman delivering a public update on the Erik and Lyle Menendez case as their resentencing hearings approaches.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters Monday that he is seeking to withdraw his predecessor’s motion to have a resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers — two convicted killers, Erik and Lyle – who hope to be freed from life imprisonment without parole.
“After a thorough and exhaustive review of the over 10,000s of pages of trial transcripts from two months-long trials, of the 1,000s of pages of prison records, of the 100s of hours of videotaped trial testimony, of all relevant pleadings, exhibits and statements, as well as interviewing victim family members, defense counsel, prior prosecutors, and law enforcement and the applicable law, the District Attorney’s Office is prepared to proceed forward with the hearing on the Court’s initiation of resentencing proceedings for the Menendez brothers — but we are requesting that the prior District Attorney’s motion for resentencing be withdrawn,” Hochman said.
They had previously exhausted all appeals and had no hope of freedom, until a new California law made resentencing hearings possible. Any reduction could make them immediately eligible for parole.
“The basis for that request is that the prior motion did not examine or consider whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and taken complete responsibility for their crimes by continuing for the past over 30 years to lie about their claims of self-defense, that is, their fear that their mother and father were going to kill them the night of Aug. 20, 1989, justifying the brutal murders of their parents with shotgun blasts through the back of their father’s head, a point-blank blast through their mother’s face, and shots to their kneecaps to stage it as a Mafia killing,” Hochman continued. “As a full examination of the record reveals, the Menendez brothers have never come clean and admitted that they lied about their self-defense as well as suborned perjury and attempted to suborn perjury by their friends for the lies, among others, of their father violently raping Lyle’s girlfriend, their mother poisoning the family, and their attempt to get a handgun the day before the murders.”
In an 88-page filing, Hochman’s office
The brothers’ resentencing hearing has been postponed following November’s Los Angeles district attorney election, and was rescheduled to March 20 and 21.
The brothers killed their parents, Mary “Kitty” Menendez and Jose Menendez, with shotguns from behind in their Beverly Hills living room in 1989.
They claimed self-defense, arguing that they were afraid their father was going to kill them after they threatened to expose him as a child sex abuser.
Since then, roughly two dozen relatives have come out in support of their freedom, including Kitty’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen, 92.
Her brother, Milton Andersen, was the sole family member who spoke out publicly in opposition to their release. He died on March 3 at the age of 90, according to his attorney – just weeks before his nephews were expected to appear in front of a California judge.
“Milton Andersen was a devoted and loving husband, father, and grandfather,” attorney RJ Dreiling told Fox News Digital. “He served his country with honor as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. Kitty Menendez wasn’t just his sister—he helped raise her after their father left when they were young. He loved her deeply and missed her every single day.”
Andersen had vehemently opposed a sentence reduction for his nephews and previously told Fox News Digital he does not believe their claims of sex abuse against their father.
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“It’s Milton Andersen’s continued belief that the claims of molestation were made up, and they were false, and he believes that the correct verdict was issued by the jury and the correct sentence was also committed,” his previous attorney, Kathleen Cady, told Fox News Digital at the time. She later recused herself from his case in order to take a new role within the DA’s office.
VanderMolen and other relatives in the pro-clemency faction met with former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon to push for their freedom, but he never met with Andersen.
WATCH ON FOX NATION: MENENDEZ BROTHERS: VICTIMS OR VILLAINS?
Gascon initiated the push for sentence reductions but lost re-election to Nathan Hochman in November. Hochman then met with both sides of the family.
LETTER AT CENTER OF MENENDEZ BROTHER’S BID FOR FREEDOM CALLED INTO QUESTION
“Milton was profoundly grateful that District Attorney Nathan Hochman took the time to personally meet with him,” Dreiling said. “He found comfort in knowing that Hochman was not only well-versed in the facts and the law but also approached their conversation with genuine compassion and concern. DA Hochman’s willingness to listen meant a great deal to Milton in his final days.”
Andersen spent 26 years in the Army and Army Reserve, serving with the 82nd Airborne and U.S. Army Special Forces and retiring as a 1st sergeant, according to an online obituary.
He is survived by his wife, Sandra Rose Andersen, three children, 18 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.