The Menendez brothers' last chance at parole might've just vanished.

Apparently the future of Erik and Lyle Menendez really does lie in the hands of just one man.

The newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said he will not recommend resentencing the brothers because he believes they have maintained a decades-long lie that they killed their parents in self-defence.

It's a complete switch-up to the stance of his predecessor George Gascón, who recommended the brothers' convictions be downgraded.

Gascón's move would have made them eligible for parole immediately if a judge approved, due to their young age at the time of offending.

Now, that's off the cards, with Hochman telling a press conference on Monday that Lyle and Erik never accepted responsibility for killing their parents in 1989.

"In looking at whether they have exhibited full insight and complete responsibility for their crimes, they have not," he said.

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At this time, he said, "our position is that they shouldn't get out of jail."

The courts ultimately have the final say in the matter, but the DA's office has significant pull.

The brothers still have a resentencing hearing set to begin on March 20.

And while Hochman said his office was prepared to go forward with the meeting, he asked the court to withdraw Gascón's motion that asked the brothers be resentenced.

"The court must consider such lack of full insight and lack of acceptance of responsibility for their murderous actions in deciding whether the Menendez brothers pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the community," he said in a release.

The Menendez brothers outside their Beverly Hills home. Image: Getty.

Erik and Lyle have spent 34 years in jail since they were first arrested and charged with murdering their parents in 1990.

In October 2024, Gascón recommended to the court that, "'Life without the possibility of parole' be removed and that they will be sentenced for murder, which, because there are two murders involved, that will be 50 years to life.

"However, because of their age under the law, since they were under 26 years of age at the time that these crimes occurred, they will be eligible for parole immediately," he said last year.

One of the key elements of the case is that both Erik and Lyle allege they were sexually abused as children.

While this has been a point of contention, Gascón said it was his belief that the brothers were indeed abused and that, like women driven to the edge who kill their abusive husbands', the brothers' decision to murder their parents was an act of desperation.

He said that despite their sentence of life in prison, they have not become involved with the darker side of jail life, and have instead advocated for their fellow inmates.

"They never [joined gangs], to the contrary, even though they didn't think that they were ever be let free, they engaged in a different journey, a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation."

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However, Hochman does not agree.

He told a press conference they, "failed to meet the requirements" to show they are no longer a danger to society.

In a release, Hochman said he does not believe in: "Their fear that their mother and father were going to kill them the night of Aug. 20, 1989, justifying the brutal murders of their parents with shotgun blasts through the back of their father's head, a point-blank blast through their mother's face, and shots to their kneecaps to stage it as a Mafia killing.

"The Menendez brothers have never come clean and admitted that they lied about their self-defence as well as suborned perjury and attempted to suborn perjury by their friends for the lies, among others, of their father violently raping Lyle's girlfriend, their mother poisoning the family, and their attempt to get a handgun the day before the murders," he continued.

Hochman went on to say that basically, the only way for the brothers to get the DA office's support for resentencing was for them to denounce their self-defence argument and "finally come forward and unequivocally and sincerely admit and completely accept responsibility for their lies".

"If they acknowledge the lies they have told for over 30 years," Hochman said at the press conference, "then we will certainly evaluate the quality of that sincerity."

The decision was made after reviewing thousands of pages of trial transcripts, testimony and prison records, as well as interviewing family members, prior prosecutors and law enforcement, the district attorney's office said.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman gives an update on the Lyle and Erik Menendez case. Image: Getty.

So, why is the case being reviewed now?

The Menendez brothers were convicted of murdering their parents more than three decades ago, but have come back into the cultural zeitgeist following a 2023 petition from their attorneys on the grounds of new evidence.

The brothers' attorneys filed a 'habeas corpus petition', asking for new evidence to be considered alongside adjustments to their conviction and sentencing. 

This included a sworn statement from a member of a boyband Roy Rosselló, who alleges that Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him. 

A second letter has also been submitted, written months before Jose and Kitty's murders, from Erik to his cousin where he hints at the sexual abuse he alleged back in the '90s. 

Then, there was also the 2024 release of a dramatised Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and subsequent documentary about the handling of their case, that has put the case back into the spotlight.

The Menendez brothers during their trial. Image: Getty.

What happened in the Menendez brothers court case?

There's no denying that the case of the Menendez brothers has long captivated the public eye. 

The brothers, Lyle and Erik, aged just 21 and 18, were arrested for the shooting of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, inside their Beverly hills mansion in 1990. 

Accused of first degree murder, their high-profile trial ended in a mistrial, with jurors unable to agree on whether or not they believed the brothers killed their parents in cold blood or did so in self-defence for the years of physical and sexual abuse they alleged occured in the lead up to the killings. 

A second trial was held, following the OJ Simpson trial where he was famously not convicted of murder. 

The Menendez brothers during their trial. Image: Getty.

The second trial was much more decisive and they were found guilty in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison. For years the brothers were separated in jail, however years later they were finally reunited whilst still being behind bars. 

Gascón had said that changing attitudes towards sexual abuse may also play a part. In fact, during the case the crown prosecutor said, "men cannot be raped, because they lack the necessary equipment to actually be raped."

"There is no question that a jury today would look at this case probably very differently than a jury did 35 years ago," Gascón added.

Erik and Lyle's relatives continue to campaign for their release. 

Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez's sister, said that the murders were "the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father."

"They were just children. Children who could have been protected and were instead brutalised in the most horrific ways," she said.

Erik and Lyle in prison. Image: AAP.

The family slammed the DA's decision.

"District Attorney Hochman made it clear today he is holding Erik, Lyle, and our family hostage," the family-led Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition said in a statement, per CNN.

"He appears fixated on their trauma-driven response to the killings in 1989 with blinders on to the fact they were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions."

The family accused Hochman of having political motivations for his resistance and slammed the prosecutors' "not-so-veiled insistence they were not sexually abused."

"He instead sent a message to every young boy who's the victim of abuse that they should not come forward or tell your truth. Because he's demanding as much out of Erik and Lyle right now," the statement said.

For now, we will need to wait and see what the judge decides, and whether the brothers will finally be free.

Featured image: Getty.