Supporters of outrage for Menendez brothers to meet with LA County DA on Friday

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A family-led coalition advocating for Erik and Lyle Menendez to plead will meet with Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Friday.

According to a statement released by Justice for the Erik and Lyle coalitionthe meeting will include more than 20 members of Jose and Kitty Menendez’s family, who fully support a grievance process that “reflects Erik and Lyle’s abuse, trauma and demonstrated rehabilitation over the past 35 years.”

“As we prepare to meet with DA Hochman, our family hopes for an open and fair discussion,” the statement read. “Despite the abuse they suffered as children and the injustice of their current sentence, Erik and Lyle Menendez have spent the last three decades taking responsibility for their actions and contributing positively to their community through leadership and rehabilitation. Under our meeting with DA Hochman, looking forward to sharing our perspective on Erik and Lyle’s tremendous personal growth over the past 35 years, and the ways in which we plan to support them in their next chapters that this meeting will bring us one step closer to spend next Christmas reunited as a family.”

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Hochman has told ABC News that he plans to review all the evidence in the brothers’ case.

In 1989, Lyle and Erik – who were 21 and 18 at the time – fatally shot their parents in the family home in Beverly Hills.

The defense argued the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, but prosecutors alleged they killed for money.

The first trial, which had separate juries for each brother, ended in mistrials.

In 1996, after the second trial – in which the judge excluded much of the sex abuse evidence – the brothers were convicted and both sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole.

Last month, Bryan Freedman, the attorney representing 24 relatives who support the immediate release of the brothers, said he intends to ask the Los Angeles Superior Court to transfer the case to the California Attorney General’s Office.

He claimed there is a conflict of interest between Hochman and Kathleen Cady, a close ally and prominent booster of Hochman, who was recently named the DA’s director of the Bureau of Victims Services.

Previously, Cady served as an attorney for Milton Andersen, brother of Kitty Menendez, who pushed for the continued incarceration of the brothers.

She has resigned from that role.

If granted, Freedman and the family believe California Attorney General Rob Bonta is likely to be far more supportive of the brothers’ release efforts than Hochman.

Freedman recently sat down with ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman for an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” ​​and said the brothers’ family members have grown increasingly concerned and accuse Hochman of “playing politics.”

“He should use that time wisely … meeting with the family members,” Freedman said during the interview. “The family members are victims. They suffered loss. They’ve also seen the rehabilitation. They’re the best people to talk to.”

In November 2024, a judge pushed back a scheduled hearing regarding the brothers’ recommendation from December 11 to January 30 and January 31. The judge said he needs time to review 17 boxes of files on the case and said he wanted to give Hochman plenty of time to get up to speed.

Hochman said he would speak to witnesses before weighing the case. So far, according to ABC News, he has already removed the two deputy attorneys who prepared the brothers’ outrage from the case.

“That tells me there’s a chance the DA is playing politics,” Freedman said. “That politics comes into play here and it worries me that what’s happening is that favors are being done.”

ABC News also learned that Hochman’s first approach to the Menendez family was to the lone family member who opposed the release of the brothers: Andersen.

“It doesn’t feel good,” Freedman said when asked what kind of message it sends.

Hochman recently addressed the allegation that the state failed to acknowledge the alleged sexual abuse the young boys suffered from their father, telling Deadline: “Erik Menendez was able to testify in great detail about all the sexual abuse he experienced. He was even able to testify about sexual abuse experienced by Lyle.”

“Do you feel that was the case?” Gutman asked Freedman about that remark.

“The evidence shows that was not the case,” Freedman responded. “You have a number of witnesses, a number of family members who were unable to testify to the abuse they saw.”

Hochman has also said that he will look into the brother’s rehabilitation in prison. He has hinted that he might separate their claims cases, which could mean Erik could be released before Lyle, who has a few minor infractions.

ABC News contributed to this report.