By Elizabeth Wolfe

Los Angeles (CNN) — Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday he would not support Erik and Lyle Menendez’s efforts to be released from prison because he believes they have maintained a decades-long lie that the 1989 murders of their parents were committed in self-defense.

Hochman has asked the court to withdraw a resentencing motion filed last year by his predecessor, who advocated for the brothers to receive a sentence that would make them eligible for parole.

Though the court can still proceed with a resentencing hearing scheduled to begin March 20, Hochman’s opposition threatens to capsize the strong momentum that has driven the brothers’ latest bid for freedom.

Hochman called the self-defense claim “fabricated” and said the brothers have displayed “lack of acceptance of responsibility for their murderous actions.” He urged the court to consider what he said was a string of lies told during the trial and maintained over their three decades behind bars.

“The District Attorney’s Office is prepared to proceed forward with the hearing on the Court’s initiation of resentencing proceedings for the Menendez brothers but we are requesting that the prior District Attorney’s motion for resentencing be withdrawn,” Hochman said in a statement.

The brothers, who are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, launched a three-part legal effort in 2023 seeking their release: a request for clemency to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a petition for an adjusted sentence that would allow them parole, and a call for a new trial based on claims of new evidence.

But each of these efforts was made under Hochman’s progressive predecessor, George Gascón, and Hochman has so far taken a more restrained approach.

Hochman last month announced he also opposes the Menendezes’ request for a new trial and resisted claims from the brothers that new evidence of sexual abuse by their father had arisen since their trials in the 1990s.

During the high-profile murder case, the brothers first claimed they were innocent in the shotgun killings of their parents, Kitty and Jose, at their manicured Beverly Hills mansion. But during their trials, the brothers admitted responsibility and their lawyers argued the siblings should not be convicted of premeditated murder, claiming the pair carried out the killings because they feared for their lives. Erik and Lyle testified they had endured a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse by their father and believed their mother was aware and chose to do nothing.

Hochman has previously said he believes evidence to corroborate the abuse allegations is “extremely lacking” and on Monday said his review of the case showed the killings were premeditated and not the result of a threat from their parents.

In his argument on the brothers’ behalf, Gascón argued the brothers have shown significant rehabilitative efforts in prison, including founding programs to help inmates process childhood trauma. He also pointed to their young age – 18 and 21 – at the time of the killings, as well as the public’s deepened understanding of male sexual abuse since the brothers’ 1996 conviction.

But Hochman criticized Gascón’s motion, saying it “did not examine or consider whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and taken complete responsibility for their crimes.”

The district attorney said he would reconsider his position if Erik and Lyle Menendez showed an “unequivocal admission that they have lied to everyone for the past 30 years.”

The decision was made after reviewing thousands of pages of trial transcripts, prison records and testimony, as well as interviewing family members, prior prosecutors and law enforcement, the district attorney’s office said.

Family slams DA and accuses him of bias

All but one of the Menendez brothers’ family members have supported their bid for freedom. Their sole detractor, Kitty’s brother Milton Andersen, died last week after long fighting his nephews’ release.

“District Attorney Hochman made it clear today he is holding Erik, Lyle, and our family hostage,” reads a statement from the family-led Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition. “He appears fixated on their trauma-driven response to the killings in 1989 with blinders on to the fact they were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions.”

The family accused Hochman of having political motivations and slammed the prosecutors’ “not-so-veiled insistence they were not sexually abused.”

“He instead sent a message to every young boy who’s the victim of abuse that they should not come forward or tell your truth. Because he’s demanding as much out of Erik and Lyle right now,” the statement said.

Hochman pushed back on the family coalition’s repeated claim the top prosecutor has ignored their pleas on behalf of Erik and Lyle. He told reporters Monday he had a three-hour meeting earlier this year with more than 20 relatives who support the brothers.

“I sat there and listened to everyone who wanted to speak to me until they were done speaking,” Hochman said. He noted the district attorney’s office “is not obligated to meet with any of the family members.”

Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the Menendez brothers, said several family members told Hochman during the meeting why they believe Erik and Lyle were abused. By suggesting the abuse claims are false, she said, the district attorney is also insinuating the relatives are liars.

“He’s not just calling Erik and Lyle liars. He’s calling a lot of people liars,” she told CNN.

Another cousin, Tamara Goodell, filed a complaint with the California Department of Corrections Office of Internal Affairs claiming Hochman adopted a “hostile, dismissive, and patronizing tone” toward relatives during the meeting.

In a letter obtained by CNN, Goodell accuses Hochman of being biased against the family and argued he violated Marsy’s Law – which protects victims’ rights – with what she described as “outright abusive” behavior, and asked that he be removed from the case.

Hochman also met with Andersen, who until the final days of his life opposed Erik and Lyle’s release and said he did not believe their claims of abuse. His attorney, RJ Dreiling, said Andersen “loved (his sister Kitty) deeply and missed her every day.”

The 91-year-old had feared for his safety if the siblings were freed, Dreiling told CNN.

“He found comfort in knowing that Hochman was not only well-versed in the facts and the law but also approached their conversation with genuine compassion and concern,” Dreiling said of his client.

Baralt said she has long sympathized with Andersen’s concerns.

“I had great empathy for Milton, and I always understood that his position came from a place of love for his sister, and that was it was a very difficult loss for him,” Baralt told CNN.

In light of Andersen’s death, however, Baralt said she hopes the district attorney will take into account that no surviving family members are asking that the brothers remain in prison.

“Who is being served by the continued incarceration of Erik and Lyle? It’s certainly not the victim’s family,” Baralt said.

Governor weighs clemency as courts examine the brothers’ case

Erik and Lyle Menendez, as well as former district attorney Gascón, seized on a growing social media movement in favor of the brothers as they launched their efforts last year to secure the pair’s freedom.

A judge will ultimately decide whether to grant two of the requests – a new trial or a lighter sentence – which Hochman and his office have strongly opposed.

But it is Newsom who holds the power to grant their petition for clemency, which would commute their sentences and immediately release them from prison. The governor has previously said he will wait to decide until Hochman has fully reviewed the case, and it is unclear how the district attorney’s Monday announcement would affect Newsom’s choice.

Newsom appeared to take a step closer to his decision last month when he ordered the state Board of Parole Hearings to investigate whether the brothers would pose an “unreasonable risk” to the public if they were released from prison.

The report, which Newsom wants within 90 days, will also be shared with Hochman and the Los Angeles Superior Court judges who are weighing the brothers’ separate requests.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Matt Friedman and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.

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