Erik and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents with shotguns in 1989, are often referred to simply as “the Menendez Brothers.” They committed their crime together, were found guilty of murder in the first degree without the possibility of parole together, and have been held in the same prison together since 2018. But now, newly elected Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman, who was sworn in by former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this month, has said he will consider their bids for freedom on an individual basis. “While they’re called ‘the Menendez Brothers case,’ there’s an Erik Menendez case and a Lyle Menendez case,” Hochman told NBC News’ Lester Holt earlier this week. “So we will look at each case separately, which is the way they actually should be handled.”
Hochman’s stance could have a shocking outcome for the brothers—if only one is resentenced and subsequently released, the other could remain incarcerated. Erik and Lyle spoke of their relationship in the recent Netflix documentary The Menendez Brothers. After being held apart for more than 20 years, they were reunited at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. “When suddenly this prayer of being able to see my brother again was being answered, the joy of seeing him again, of being able to wrap my arms around him and give him a hug was overwhelming,” Erik, who turned 54 on November 27, says in the documentary. According to Lyle, 56, they see one another every day and they are “very close.”
Legal experts say that it’s theoretically possible that only one of the brothers could be released, but that that scenario is unlikely. “It doesn’t take a law degree to decide whether or not Erik and Lyle have been rehabilitated, and it’s not some sophisticated legal argument,” a source says. “The simplest way one could stay in prison and the other could get out is if one of them had a horrible prison record and the other didn’t. The prison system wouldn’t have put them together if they were bad prisoners.” Ultimately, he adds, it’s going to be presiding judge Michael Jesic’s decision.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman speaks outside of the Hall of Justice on December 3, 2024.By Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images.
Regardless, Hochman appears to be walking back the recommendation made by his predecessor, George Gascón, that Erik and Lyle be resentenced with the possibility for parole. A former Republican who ran as an independent, Hochman recently removed two of Gascón’s deputy district attorneys from the Menendez case. After winning the election, he released a statement, saying, “The voters of Los Angeles County have spoken and have said enough is enough of DA Gascón’s pro-criminal extreme policies; they look forward to a safer future.” While running, he also claimed that Gascón was using the Menendez case to gain political favor. Gascón rejected those claims: “There’s nothing political about this,” he said at a press conference in October.
Bryan Freedman, the extended Menendez family’s lawyer, told Good Morning America on Wednesday he’s concerned that Hochman is the one who’s playing politics. “He should use that time wisely,” Freedman said of Hochman. “Meet with the family members. The family members are victims. They suffered loss. They’ve also seen the rehabilitation. They are the best people to talk to.”
Joan Andersen VanderMolen and Karen VanderMolen, sit at a press conference outside the Criminal Courts Building on October 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.By Mario Tama/Getty Images.
Of all the family members, the DA reportedly chose to reach out first to Milton Anderson, Kitty’s brother, who rejects the idea that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense after years of abuse. He told The New York Times last year that Erik and Lyle “do not deserve to walk on the face of this earth after killing my sister and my brother-in-law,” Last week, Hochman told Deadline he’d offer to meet “any victim family member if they want a personal audience with me” once he gets up to speed on the case, which, according to the DA’s office, includes thousands of pages of transcripts. (Vanity Fair contacted Hochman’s office but the DA wasn’t available for comment in time for our deadline.)
The Menendez brothers got an overwhelming amount of public support for their release this past fall after the release of showrunner Ryan Murphy’s hit limited series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Calls to free them have circulated online to support their claim that, because people in the ’90s were uncomfortable with the concept of male-on-male rape, the argument that their father abused them for years while their mother looked the other way didn’t gain the appropriate consideration.
But Hochman seems less prone to believe what has been referred to as “the abuse excuse.” “I think it’s a bit simplistic to say that society back in the ’90s didn’t recognize sexual abuse of young boys or men,” he said in the interview with Deadline, referencing statements made by Erik and Lyle’s attorney, Mark Geragos. “I think it did.” He added, “The media is in search of simple narratives, conflicting narratives, and so it adopted the Geragos narrative. Which was very smart, very creative.”
In response, Geragos tells Vanity Fair, “I look forward to meeting with the new DA and making a presentation. The facts as to be determined by the judge are clear —they are outstanding examples of rehabilitation in terms of work they’ve done on themselves and in the prison community despite no hope of release for years.”
