Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor said Monday that he had withdrawn a recommendation to reduce the prison terms of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving sentences of life without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents.
In a reversal of his predecessor’s support for reducing the sentences, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said there were “legitimate reasons” to justify the withdrawal.
Hochman said Erik and Lyle Menendez, who have served 35 years in prison and are 54 and 57, respectively, have not fully acknowledged more than a dozen lies they have told about the murders, including that they killed their parents in self-defense.
“In looking at whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and complete responsibility for their crimes, they have not,” he said, adding: “They don’t meet the standards for resentencing. They don’t meet the standards for rehabilitation.”