New DA Deals Severe Blow to Menendez Brothers' Hopes. Here's How Erik and Lyle Could Still Go Free

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced that he plans to oppose the Menendez brothers’ petition to vacate their conviction.

Hochman made his announcement at a press conference at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 21.

Despite Hochman’s opposition, the final decision about the habeas petition rests with a judge, not the district attorney. When asked if the brothers should go free, Hochman said, “It will ultimately be a court question.”

Lawyers for Erik and Lyle Menendez — who have long claimed they murdered their parents because they feared for their lives after years of sexual abuse by their father — filed the habeas corpus petition in Los Angeles Superior Court in May of 2023 to overturn their convictions.

The petition centered on sexual abuse allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, against Jose, whom he claims raped him in the 1980s. It also cited a letter Erik wrote to his now-deceased cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the killings.

During Friday’s press conference, Hochman cast doubt on the letter’s legitimacy, saying, “It is not credible evidence.”

“Never discussed in any of the two trials when Erik Menendez testified or Andy Cano testified. And we believe it’s inconceivable,” Hochman said. “It would absolutely have come out during one or both of their testimonies.”

Hochman also argued that the Menendez brothers hadn’t known of Rosselló’s claims in 1989. “It would fail the admissibility standard,” he said. “They first found out about this over 30 years later after the killings.

Menendez family members condemned Hochman’s decision, contending he was “silencing survivors everywhere.”

“District Attorney Nathan Hochman took us right back to 1996 today,” the family said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “He opened the wounds we have spent decades trying to heal. He didn’t listen to us. We are profoundly disappointed by his remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced.

“Our hope now rests with Judge (Michael) Jesic, that he will examine the evidence in their case without prejudice, carefully adhering to California law with modern understanding of trauma.”

The Menendez brothers, who have been serving life sentences, are still awaiting a decision by Hochman about a resentencing motion filed last October by then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who lost the 2024 election to Hochman.

Gascón announced his plan to recommend that Lyle and Erik each be resentenced to 50 years to life.

Based on their age at the time of the murders, the brothers would be eligible for parole immediately.

Gascón said that the brothers had “paid their debt to society” and, while in prison created groups to address untreated trauma and helped inmates with physical disabilities.

However, after Gascón lost his bid for reelection, Hochman said in January that he still had not made up his mind about whether he planned to withdraw the resentencing motion, proceed with it, or modify it. At Friday’s press conference, he said he’s still undecided on the resentencing motion.

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A resentencing hearing is scheduled to begin on March 20.

Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they fatally shot their parents using 12-gauge shotguns in the den of their Beverly Hills, Calif., home on Aug. 20, 1989.

Prosecutors at the time said the two brothers’ motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the slayings.

In 1996, three years after their first trial ended in a deadlock, the siblings were convicted of the first-degree murders and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.