New Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office is pushing back against a “meritless” claim of a potential conflict of interest in the Menendez brothers’ case amid reports that their relatives are looking to have their potential resentencing handled by the state attorney general’s office instead of county prosecutors.
“The conflict of interest issue, raised to the media first before it was raised to the District Attorney’s Office, is meritless,” a DA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “All Menendez victim family members who want the opportunity to personally speak with the District Attorney before any final decisions are made have been invited to do so and these discussions should be completed in the coming weeks.”
Hochman’s predecessor, former DA George Gascon, had allegedly met only with relatives who supported the brothers’ freedom and not their 90-year-old uncle, Milton Andersen. He has opposed any leniency for his nephews, who were convicted of shotgunning their parents, who were Andersen’s sister and brother-in-law, in their Beverly Hills living room in the late 1980s.
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Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez snuck up behind their parents, Jose and Mary “Kitty” Menendez, and opened fire on Aug. 20, 1989. The brothers went on a $700,000 spending spree as investigators initially suspected a mob hit, but they were eventually arrested.
Their first trial ended with a hung jury, and they were later convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole – a punishment they are hoping to have reduced under California’s new resentencing law.
Andersen and Kitty’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, 92, is among two dozen other relatives who support freedom for the brothers. There has also been public support for their release after a series of documentaries explored their claims of child abuse at the hands of their father, a former RCA Records executive.
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Their attorney also says new evidence bolsters their case: Roy Rosello, a member of the 1980s boy band Menudo, came forward with his own allegations of abuse against Jose Menendez last year. And a letter, purportedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders, could support some of the latter’s trial testimony about Jose Menendez. Cano died in 2003, and the letter’s authenticity has been called into question in court filings.
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Andersen VanderMolen’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, plans to ask for their potential resentencing to be transferred to the California Attorney General’s Office after a supportive Los Angeles district attorney lost his re-election bid, according to ABC News.
In the final weeks of his term, Gascon pushed for a resentencing that could have led to the brothers’ freedom under a new California law. But he lost in a landslide to Hochman, an independent, who said he would fully review the facts of each brother’s case before taking a stance.
Freedman is claiming there is a conflict of interest because Andersen’s former attorney, Kathleen Cady, has taken a job in Hochman’s office, according to the ABC report.
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Cady, who spent decades as a deputy district attorney before becoming a victims’ rights advocate, will become director of the LA County DA’s Bureau of Victim Services on Jan. 6. She declined to comment, citing her new role. She no longer represents Andersen.
The brothers claimed self-defense, arguing they killed their father because they were afraid he would kill them if they planned to expose him as a child molester.
But they also unloaded so many shells into their mother that they had to go outside and get more before finishing her off as she tried to crawl to safety.
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THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS: MONSTERS OR MISUNDERSTOOD?
Andersen vehemently opposed the idea of reducing their sentences and said in a statement to Fox News Digital this year that he does not believe the brothers’ claims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
“Mr. Andersen loved his sister deeply and mourns her every day,” his new attorney, R.J. Dreiling, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “He appreciates that the new DA seems genuinely committed to reviewing all the evidence, listening to everyone impacted by his sister’s murder, and ensuring justice is served.”
A separate habeas corpus petition is making its way through the court, which would be an additional path to freedom for the brothers if successful. That petition relies on the Cano letter and Rosello’s allegations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom also declined to grant a clemency petition for the brothers – at least for now – stating he would defer to Hochman’s pending review of the case before making a decision.
