Menendez Brothers Are 'Cautiously Hopeful' Despite Setback Dealt by New D.A.

Lyle and Erik Menendez say they are “cautiously hopeful” about a potential release from prison, despite a lack of support for their release from the new Los Angeles County District Attorney.

“My brother and I are cautiously hopeful,” Lyle Menendez says in a clip from a new, jailhouse interview with TMZ.

The Menendez brothers are serving life sentences for the 1989 murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, who were shot to death with a shotgun.

A full interview with the brothers will be aired Monday at 9 p.m. ET on Fox, according to the Instagram post made by TMZ.

The comments from Lyle come amid an ongoing dispute over his and his brother’s potential resentencing in the 1989 murders.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced last month that he was withdrawing a motion to request resentencing for the brothers and would not recommend their release, accusing them of telling “lies” for the “past 30 years” about the case.

The position reversed course on efforts by Hochman’s predecessor George Gascón, who initially filed the motion requesting a resentencing before losing to Hochman, 61, in the 2024 election.

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Hochman said in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America last month that he would consider requesting to resentence the brothers “if they sincerely and unequivocally admit, for the first time in over 30 years, the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it.”

The brothers have long claimed they killed their parents out of fear for their own lives, alleging that their father Jose had sexually abused them both for years as kids.

Some of the brothers’ family members spoke out against Hochman for rescinding the request for their resentencing last month, accusing him of having a “personal bias” against them.

“Hochman doesn’t seem to want to listen or engage with us,” Lyle and Erik’s cousin Tamara Goodell said, PEOPLE previously reported. “At every turn, we feel like D.A. Hochman has dismissed us, ignored us, and quite frankly, treated us like we don’t matter. Why? Why does he seem to be making this case so personal? A district attorney is supposed to be fair, impartial, and focused on the law, but Hochman is not acting like a neutral party.”

Despite the back and forth with Hochman, California Gov. Gavin Newsom separately announced last month that the Menendez brothers are scheduled to go before a parole board in June. Newsom, 57, says he will then review their case for possible clemency.

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