Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman asked the courts to deny a habeas petition from Erik and Lyle Menendez, blasting their claim of new evidence in the 35-year-old murder case as both late and unreliable.

At a news conference on Friday, Hochman dismissed claims that the father of the convicted brothers, José Menendez, had sexually abused them, saying that a letter from 1988 mentioned by their defense team would not be admissible for a retrial.

Hochman said in a statement, per Deadline, "To say that this letter was not discovered until after the trial, as it's been alleged in the defense papers, we believe, is just wrong."

The letter, which Erik Menendez reportedly wrote to his cousin Andy Cano, was made public in 2015 during a Barbara Walters sit-down. However, it didn't become evidence in the case until May 2023. Hochman said the letter could be an example of the brothers' history of deception.

Hochman said, according to The Wrap, "The notion that this letter could be part of a continuum of lies and deceit and fabricating stories required us to go back into the history of the Menendez case to analyze whether or not that would be true."

The DA also referenced inconsistencies in the statements given by the brothers regarding the murders of their parents on August 20, 1989. The Menendez brothers initially told various stories; for instance, they'd say it was a mafia hit, or their father had attacked Lyle's girlfriend, but the end game became that it was a self-defense matter.

Hochman said there was not any direction for the jury to weigh the merits of the abuse claims; the issue they originally saw was solely whether it was premeditated or self-defense and really nothing else. He added that the brothers took affirmative steps to try to conceal their crime, referring to the brothers picking up shell casings and disposing of their clothing.

The DA went on, "Sexual abuse is abhorrent, and we will prosecute sexual abuse in any form it comes. But sexual abuse, in this situation, while it may have been a motivation for Erik and Lyle to do what they did, does not constitute self-defense," the OK magazine reported.

Family Members Push Back

The rest of the Menendez family has taken issue with the district attorney's stance. Hochman's comments drew outrage from Erik and Lyle's cousin, Anamaria Baralt, who called them "abhorrent" and said he disregards the effects of childhood trauma.

"To suggest that the years of abuse couldn't have led to the tragedy in 1989 is not only outrageous, but also dangerous," Baralt told TMZ. "Abuse does not exist in a vacuum. It leaves lasting scars, rewires the brain, and traps victims in cycles of fear and trauma."

She blasted Hochman for "silencing survivors everywhere who know what it's like to be disbelieved, ignored, and retraumatized by a system designed to protect them."

What Lies Ahead for the Menendez Brothers?

After being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in their second trial in 1996, the Menendez brothers, who are now almost 50, have spent nearly 35 years behind bars. The new trial attempt is based on two things: the letter from 1988 and a separate claim from a former Menudo band member who alleges he was also abused in the 1980s by José.

Their attorney plans to continue arguing for reconsideration at a resentencing hearing on March 20 and 21, 2025.