After firing George Gascón as the new Los Angeles County District Attorney, Nathan Hochman is trying to catch up on his predecessor’s infamous cases.
Addressing Gascon’s recent recommendation to resentence Eric and Lyle Menendez for the 1989 murder of their parents Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, Hochman insisted that he “will not delay for the sake of delay” when the case is likely to reach his desk.
“For my part, I will work as fast as I can,” he said. TMZ, citing his years of experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney. “I’ll be able to go through all this information quickly. Certainly, it will have a high priority, as with other similarly situated cases, that have a high priority on my desk.
“One way or another, Menendez, like any defendant, deserves a decision,” added Hochman – who noted that the decision still has to go through the court, the parole board and Governor Gavin Newsom after he gives his opinion.
After criticizing Gascon for the “suspicious” timing of his sudden interest in the case last month while discussing them, Hochman takes office ahead of a possible Dec. 11 hearing on the brothers’ possible resentencing, which could bring them much closer to their release from 1996. Sentences imposed
“If Prosecutor Gascon really thought they should be resentenced, he would have been sitting on the resentencing request for eight months. He told TMZ: “He’s been sitting on the habeas corpus proceeding for 16 months,” he told TMZ. “At any time, he could have gone ahead and done that, but it wouldn’t have helped him during the election because he made his decision 12 days before the election.”
Hochman added: “By making the right decision in the heart of the campaign, when he was down by 30 points and had no money in the bank but needed the media attention, what he actually did was cast a cloud over the credibility of whether or not he was in the race. It’s not really a fair decision or if it’s just for his political benefit. Again, if it comes to my desk, I will do the hard work of doing a thorough research of the facts and the law to make the appropriate decision.
A source