Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a opposition filing Friday that the Menendez family’s April 25 motion for him to recuse his office from the imprisoned brothers’ resentencing process is “devoid of merit” and “desperate.”
“In the opposition, the District Attorney’s Office has argued that in a ‘drastic and desperate step,’ the defense has decided to ‘sidestep the central issue of resentencing’ and present an argument ‘devoid of merit’ to recuse the entire District Attorney’s Office,” Hochman said. “The entire defense argument over recusal boils down to the defense not being happy with the current District Attorney’s position on resentencing. While this desperate argument may work in a press interview, it fails in a court of law based on an adversarial system of justice.”
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s family filed a motion last week to recuse Hochman from their case. In the court documents, obtained by TheWrap, the brothers insist, “The record shows a conflict that renders it unlikely Erik and Lyle can receive a fair resentencing hearing, recusal is proper,” citing the L.A. politicians continued efforts to block their resentencing.
“No-one from the District Attorney’s victim services department has contacted even a single one of the family members whose views conflicted with the views of Ms. Cady’s former client,” the filing reads. (Kathleen Cady in this case is “the only family member to oppose resentencing.”)
The motion continued: “These family members shared their consistent view that nearly 35 years in prison was enough and Erik and Lyle should indeed be resentenced.”
Hochman argued in Friday’s opposition that the D.A. office’s “position on resentencing is not yet, rather than never, as it depends on the Menendez brothers finally coming clean after 30 years with all the crimes, lies, deceits, and cover-up they engaged in and refuse to renounce.”
“From lying about their claims of self-defense to trying to get friends to lie about their father being a violent rapist of one of the brother’s girlfriends or the mother trying to poison the family, these continuous lies demonstrate that the Menendez brothers have not shown full insight into their crimes, have not been rehabilitated, and continue to constitute a risk of danger to society,” Hochman stated, echoing previously made arguments he has made against the brothers’ resentencing, which was supported by former D.A. George Gascón.
More to come …
