(LOS ANGELES) -- "Our position is that they shouldn't get out of jail," Hochman said at a news conference Monday. "We bring that position to the court. The court can agree with it, the court can disagree with it or modify it in some respect."
Hochman said his office is "prepared to go forward" with the hearing regarding their resentencing case.
The hearing is set for March 20 and 21 for the brothers, who are serving life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez.
Hochman argued that because the "brothers persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury, then they do not meet the standards for resentencing. They do not meet the standards for rehabilitation."
"If the Menendez brothers, at some point, unequivocally, sincerely and fully accept complete responsibility for all their criminal actions, acknowledge that the self-defense defense was phony and their parents weren't going to kill them ... and finally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA's office, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies ... in the future, the court can weigh these new insights into making a determination as to whether they now qualify for rehabilitation and re-sentencing. And the [DA's office] will do the same," Hochman said.
The DA said his decision comes after reviewing trial transcripts, prison records and videotaped trial testimony, as well as meeting with Menendez family members, defense attorneys and past prosecutors.
Hochman stressed the premeditation, noting the brothers drove to San Diego days before the murders to buy shotguns with a fake ID, and on the night of the murders, they planned an alibi and went to buy movie tickets, he said.
After Jose and Kitty Menendez were fatally shot, the brothers allegedly shot them again in the kneecaps to try to make the slayings look like a gang shooting, Hochman said.
The brothers "also had the presence of mind to pick up all the shotgun shells" to try to hide their fingerprints, and then they ditched their bloody clothes and the weapons, Hochman said.
Hochman said the brothers told 20 lies and have since admitted to only four; he said 16 lies remain "unacknowledged."
The brothers initially proclaimed their innocence and said the murders may have been Mafia hits.
The truth about the brothers being responsible came after Erik Menendez confessed to his therapist and that confession tape was turned over to the police.
"They convinced, not just the media, not just the police, but their family and their friends that they were 100% innocent of these crimes, until eventually these tapes came out," Hochman said.
The "next iteration of the story" was when Lyle Menendez allegedly asked his girlfriend to claim Jose Menendez drugged and raped her, Hochman said.
The brothers later said Erik Menendez was raped by their father and Lyle Menendez was raped by their mother, he said.
At trial, the brothers claimed self-defense, saying they were victims of sex abuse from their father and believed their parents were going to kill them.
But Hochman claimed "the self-defense defense was a fabrication."
Self-defense wasn't mentioned in the confession to the therapist, according to Hochman.
"What Erik said is that [his father] was a controlling, dominating force, and that is the reason," Hochman said. "He said the mother would be a witness to the crime, so she had to die, [and she] was so miserable because the father had an affair ... [and] the mother could not live without the father."
The "brothers have never come clean and admitted that they lied about their self-defense as well as suborned perjury and attempted to suborn perjury by their friends for the lies, among others, of their father violently raping Lyle's girlfriend, their mother poisoning the family, and their attempt to get a handgun the day before the murders," the DA said in a statement.
Hochman said the brothers "lied when they testified that when they burst into the den with their shotguns, that it was too dark to see and their parents were standing up or moving."
"Expert testimony showed that, at all times, the parents were seated on the couch" or wounded on the ground when shot, he said.
The brothers also "lied when they testified that they thought their parents were going to kill them" on their family fishing trip one day before the murders, Hochman said.
After Hochman's press conference, Lyle Menendez posted on Facebook that "of all those 'lies' [Hochman] talked about, several of them were admitted/stipulated to in the first trial. ... And several other 'lies' were absolutely disproven or reasonably disputed."
Menendez family members who want the brothers released also slammed the DA's announcement, saying Hochman is ignoring "the fact they were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions."
"Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago," the family said in a statement. "They have apologized for their actions, which were the results of Jose's sexual abuse and Kitty's enablement. They have apologized for the horrific actions they took. They have apologized to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives. Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologize to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear."
The family also attacked Hochman for what they called his "not-so-veiled insistence" that the brothers weren't sexually abused.
Hochman "sent a message to every young boy who's the victim of abuse that they should not come forward," the family said.
At Monday's news conference, Hochman frequently referenced California Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2022 decision to deny parole to Robert F. Kennedy's killer, Sirhan Sirhan, citing that case as the precedent the judge should consider with the Menendez brothers.
Although Sirhan -- like the Menendez brothers -- spent decades in prison rehabilitating himself, including achieving degrees and participating in prison programs, and he had letters of support, Newsom denied Sirhan parole because he "failed to exhibit insight and completely accept responsibility," making him "an unreasonable risk of danger to the community," Hochman said.
The court needs to "analyze whether the Menendez brothers' lack of full insight and lack of complete responsibility for their murders overcomes ... the other factors justifying a resentencing like the Menendez's length of time in prison, their age at the time of the murders, their upbringing and any sexual abuse they experienced, their extensive rehabilitation efforts in prison including getting educational degrees and involvement in community and prison programs, any supportive letters from prison officials and victim family members, their health, and the low prison risk score," Hochman said.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA's office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón's announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman. When Hochman came into office on Dec. 3, he promised to review all the facts before reaching his own decision.
Hochman's announcement on Monday comes days after one of the brothers' cousins, Tamara Goodell, slammed the DA in a letter to the U.S. Attorney's Office Civil Rights Division.
Goodell accused Hochman of being "hostile, dismissive and patronizing" during two meetings in January with family members who want the brothers released. She said the "lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized."
Goodell wants Hochman removed and the case turned over to the attorney general's office.
Besides resentencing, the brothers have been pursuing two other paths to freedom.
One is their habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman announced in February that he's asked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the new evidence isn't credible or admissible.
The third path to freedom is through the brothers' request for clemency, which has been submitted to Newsom.
On Feb. 26, Newsom announced that he's ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day "comprehensive risk assessment" investigation into whether the brothers pose "an unreasonable risk to the public" if they're granted clemency and released.
"There's no guarantee of outcome here," Newsom said. "But this process simply provides more transparency ... as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency."
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