Prosecutors In Favor Of Menendez Resentencing Claim New DA Punished Them: Report

LOS ANGELES, CA — Two prosecutors who recommended the Menendez brothers be freed from prison claim they were punished by District Attorney Nathan Hochman, an accusation that comes as advocates for the brothers have expressed fears that Hochman's stance on the case differs from his predecessor, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The prosecutors, Brock Lunsford and Nancy Theberge, filed claim notices Monday that they intend to sue Hochman and Deputy District Attorney John Lewin for retaliation, defamation and discrimination.

Lunsford and Theberge said that last year they made the case to their former boss, then-district attorney George Gascón, that the brothers should be resentenced for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, because their imprisonment no longer served the interest of justice. A memo they wrote led Gascón to petition the court on the brothers' behalf last year as part of an ongoing case that could provide them a path out of prison, the Times reported.

Before he was handily defeated by Hochman, Gascón said publicly that there were people in his office who disagreed with his position on the Menendez brothers' case. "There are people in the office that strongly believe that the Menendez brothers should stay in prison the rest of their lives," Gascón said last year.

Among them were Theberge and Lunsford’s supervisor, the Times reported.

Lunsford, a 25-year veteran of the DA's office, said he was reassigned to an undesirable position as a “calendar deputy” in the Norwalk courthouse after Hochman won, while Theberge said she was sent back to the alternate public defender’s office despite an exemplary performance review under Gascón's leadership, the Times reported.

“They were just punished … they felt that the law said the Menendez brothers should be resentenced. These were two individuals who were just doing their job,” their attorney, Justin Shegerian, told the Times.

Hochman hasn't come out publicly with a position on the Menendez case. But a group of the brothers' relatives on Monday said that Theberge and Lunsford’s claims deepen their fears that "political influences might overshadow justice" under Hochman, the Times reported.

The family previously expressed concern about Hochman's hiring of Kathy Cady, a victim rights advocate who opposed the brothers' release, to oversee the DA's victim services bureau.

On March 20, a judge is set to consider whether the brothers should be resentenced on a lesser murder charge. Gascón in October requested that the judge resentence the brothers, who have spent 35 years behind bars. He recommended to the court the brothers' original sentence — life without parole — be removed and that they be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Because of their age at the time of the crimes, the brothers would immediately be eligible for youthful parole, which would be decided by a parole board, Gascón said.

Hochman met with the brothers' family members in January in advance of the hearing, which was rescheduled from the end of January to March 20. He declined to detail the conversation, but called it "productive."

The conversation he had with the brothers' family members represented one more "part of the information data set" that will determine his stance on the question of resentencing.

The efforts to revisit the brothers' conviction and sentencing is supported by new evidence, lawyers for the brothers said.

The evidence submitted to the courts as part of the resentencing bid includes a letter written by Erik Menendez to his cousin eight months before the killing that referenced the abuse. Recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, that he was also sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager, was also submitted, their attorney said.

The Menendez brothers were tried twice after the first trial ended in a hung jury. During the second trial, prosecutors argued there was no evidence of sexual abuse, and details of the brothers' claims were not permitted in the second trial, ending in their conviction. Prosecutors at the time argued that the Erik and Lyle Menendez sought to profit from their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

The brothers — now 56 and 53 — never denied carrying out the killings, but maintained they feared for their lives amid their father's abuse.