Los Angeles’ new district attorney came out against a new trial for Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers convicted of shooting their parents to death 35 years ago.

On Friday, February 21 Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said during a press conference that two significant pieces of evidence — proffered by the brothers’ legal counsel in a May 2023 habeas corpus petition — would not meet the standards of admissibility. It came as his office’s “informal response” to the motion filed on behalf of the men currently serving life behind bars for the murders of Kitty and José Menendez.

Hochman’s opposition starkly contrasts against the support put forth by former D.A. George Gascón, who last year sought resentencing that could have made the Menendez brothers immediately eligible for parole.

Some, however, viewed Gascón’s support as an electoral strategy. During the election, which Gascón lost in November 2024, Hochman called it “another desperate political move by a D.A. running a losing campaign scrambling to grab headlines through a made-for-TV decision,” according to The New York Times.

The D.A.’s Office Opposes the Purported 1988 Letter

Defense attorneys’ attempts to vacate the men’s convictions were presented in a habeas corpus petition in May 2023, highlighting two crucial pieces of evidence not presented in the brothers’ final 1996 trial. The first being a reported copy of a letter written by Erik to his cousin in December 1988.

Hochman said the cousin passed away in 2003, which made the unearthed letter impossible to authenticate. (Hochman noted a postmarked envelope would have sufficed, but none was found).

The letter detailed claims by Erik Menendez that he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his father. Hochman, however, disputed that claim and said that even if the contents were true, “it’s not timely.”

The D.A.’s Office Opposes Roy Rossello’s statements

Second, Hochman’s administration reviewed the revelations of Menudo boy band member Roy Rossello, who alleged José Menendez, a successful music executive, of raping him when he was 14, as revealed in the documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, now available to watch on Peacock.

Hochman said Rosello’s statements, which could support the brothers’ claims that José Menendez was a pedophile — and see the men retried on charges less severe than first-degree murder — also “fail[ed] the admissibility standard.”

Ultimately, since the brothers were unaware of the alleged abuse against Rosello when they admittedly emptied a pair of shotguns into their parents, it had no bearing on the crimes, said Hochman.

“So, the evidence, if in fact this is true of what Roy Rosello was saying, would not be admissible to show their state of mind in 1989 because they didn’t know about it in 1989,” said Hochman.

The D.A. said the case “is on three parallel tracks,” consisting of their response to the habeas corpus motion, the convicted men seeking clemency (to which Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to respond), and the issue of resentencing.

“Resentencing, we’ll be dealing with in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

About the Menendez brothers’ crimes

The August 29, 1989, murders of Kitty and José Menendez captivated the country in the early- and mid-’90s, as did the multiple trials faced by their sons, who were only 21 and 19 when they killed their parents in their shared Beverly Hills mansion. There was no question as to the men’s culpability, however many — especially in retrospect — questioned whether they should have been convicted of charges less severe than first-degree murder, as they were in March 1996 before being handed life sentences.

During the sensationalized trial, the young men were painted as spoiled rich kids who killed their parents in cold blood to inherit their wealth and support their lavish lifestyles. Prosecutors pointed to their flagrant spending and attempts to cover their lies in the following months, which became fodder for the media and T.V.

Lyle and Erik’s backers maintain they were the victims of serialized sexual assault and abuse by their parents.

Learn more about the case in Peacock’s Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.