Nathan Hochman, the incoming Los Angeles County district attorney, said this week that he will review his predecessor's decision to recommend that the Menendez brothers be made eligible for parole.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted in 1996 for the double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989 and were each sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole. Their case recently returned to the forefront of public consciousness thanks to a new documentary and a new dramatic series about the brothers, both released by Netflix.
Hochman, during an interview with ABC News released on Thursday, criticized outgoing District Attorney George Gascón over the "timing of his decision" to announce that his office would support resentencing the brothers and making them eligible for parole immediately.
"Part of the problem with the Gascón timing of his decision is there's a cloud over that credibility. Is it a just decision, or was it just a political ploy?" Hochman asked.
"There will be no cloud over whatever decision I make."
He added, "If you decide this case based on just reviewing a Netflix documentary, you're doing a disservice to the Menendez brothers, to the victims' family members, to the public."
Hochman said he will "work as expeditiously as possible" before the resentencing hearing takes place on Dec. 11.
"If we need some additional time to formulate our position, I'll ask the court for it," he said.
"I'm not going to ask for delay just for delay's sake," he continued. "We'll ask for the minimal amount of time necessary to do this work, because we owe it to the Menendez brothers, we owe it to the victim family members, we owe it to the public to get this decision right."
Gascón told ABC News in a statement that his decision was in no way politically motivated, saying, "I believe that they should be released and they should be released cleanly within the law."
He added, "I base my decision in the review of 30 years of ... information about their behavior, as well as a very thorough understanding of what they were convicted of and the elements of the crime. So my decision was appropriately based."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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