Lyle and Erik’s cousin Menendez slammed the Los Angeles County District Prosecutor Nathan Hochman, accused him of “hostile, underestimated, and patronized” to the family and asked him to be expelled from the case.
The cousin, Tamara Goodell, said Hochman’s behavior “eroded the remaining trust” in the DA office and he wanted the case to be handed over to the Attorney General’s Office.
During the January 2 Hochman meeting with more than 20 Menendez family members who wanted brothers to be released, relatives emotionally shared “the ongoing trauma and suffering,” Goodell said in a letter last week to the division of the Civil Rights of the US Lawyer’s Office. But he said Hochman “continued to verbally and emotionally made the family back by embarrassing us for allegedly not listening to the public press briefing.”
The combination of two orders provided by the California Penitentiary shows Erik Menendez, Left, and Lyle Menendez.
California Correction Department through AP
Hochman’s tone “hostile, underestimated, and patronizing created an intimidating and bluffing atmosphere, made us, the victims, more depressed and felt insulted,” he said.
Goodell suspected that Hochman focused on how he was treated than the victims.
“The lack of compassion is very clear, and the family feels not only ignored but further intimidated and revised,” he said.
Goodell quoted his rights as a victim under the law of Marsy – Bill of Rights California for the victims – specifically noted that a victim entitled “Treated with justice and respect” and “Free from intimidation, harassment, and harassment.”
One day after the initial meeting with Hochman, Goodell said he and his son met with Hochman, prosecutors in the DA office, brothers and sisters’ lawyers and family lawyers – and he said he left the meeting with feelings “ignored and unable to be respected.”
Goodell said when he raised concerns about the impartiality of the DA office, Hochman “became a nervous visibility, underestimating and aggressive.”
Los Angeles District Lawyer Nathan Hochman spoke outside the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles on December 3, 2024.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP Via Getty Images
Goodell said his son witnessed the behavior of Da “harassment, underestimated, and unprofessional, further aggravating emotional victims to our family.”
Goodell also accused that Hochman said that the lawyer of the brothers “had represented ‘terrible people.” “This inappropriate statement strengthens its bias,” Goodell said.
In addition to asking Hochman to be deleted and the case was handed over to the Attorney General’s Office, Goodell said he wanted Hochman to “be responsible” for his behavior.
He said he also wanted Kathleen Cady – who was appointed by Hochman as the Director of the Victim Service Bureau and was issued from this case and the newly impartial “representatives assigned to the victim’s services.
Cady was previously a lawyer for Milton Anderson, a one -time relative to encourage to look after brothers and sisters in prison. Anderson died last week.
Goodell said that when he expressed his concern about Cady at the second January meeting, “Hochman coldly fired me,” and “Between me, spoke in a way of demeaning and hostile.”
Hochman said in January that Cady was “fired from the Menendez case.”
Da refused to comment on Goodell’s letter.
The brothers and sisters were living life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murder of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez. Lyle and Erik Menendez, each 21 and 18 years old, at that time, admitted the murder but claimed they acted to defend themselves after years of sexual harassment by their father.
Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sat in the Beverly Hills City Court where their lawyer was delayed to make a request on behalf of the brothers who were suspected in the killing of their parents on March 12, 1990.
Nick UT/AP
Brothers are pursuing three paths to freedom.
One of them is a request for clemency to Governor California Gavin Newsom. The governor announced in February that he ordered a parole in the 90-day risk assessment investigation on whether the brothers raised “unreasonable risks for the public” if they were given pardon and released.
Another road is the petition of Habeas Corpus submitted by you in 2023 for a review of two new evidences that were not presented at the trial. Hochman in February asked the court to deny the petition of Habeas Corpus, with the reason that the new evidence could not be trusted or accepted, and said their sexual harassment claims did not justify killing their parents to defend themselves.
The third is hating.
In October, the district prosecutor at that time George Gascón announced that he recommended the life sentence of the brothers and sisters without the possibility of parole was deleted, and vice versa they had to be punished for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years for life. Because the two siblings are under 26 years at the time of crime, they will qualify for immediate parole with new punishment.
The DA office says recommendations that hate calculating many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and harassment or trauma that contributes to the crime. Gascón praised the work carried out by Lyle and Erik Menendez behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Hochman, who became DA in December, is expected to release his position because he hates soon. He held a press conference at 10 am local time Monday.
ABC News’ Kaitlyn Morris contributed to this report.