(LOS ANGELES) — A cousin of Lyle and Erik Menendez is slamming Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, accusing him of being “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” to the family and asking for him to be removed from the case.
The cousin, Tamara Goodell, said Hochman’s conduct “eroded any remaining trust” in the DA’s office and she wants the case turned over to the attorney general’s office.
During Hochman’s Jan. 2 meeting with over 20 Menendez family members who want the brothers released, the relatives emotionally shared their “ongoing trauma and suffering,” Goodell said in a letter last week to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division. But she said Hochman “proceeded to verbally and emotionally re-traumatize the family by shaming us for allegedly not listening to his public press briefings.”
Hochman’s “hostile, dismissive, and patronizing tone created an intimidating and bullying atmosphere, leaving us, the victims, more distressed and feeling humiliated,” she said.
Goodell alleged Hochman focused on how he was treated rather than the victims.
“The lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized,” she said.
Goodell cited her rights as a victim under Marsy’s Law — California’s bill of rights for victims — specifically noting it states that a victim is entitled “to be treated with fairness and respect” and be “free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse.”
One day after that initial meeting with Hochman, Goodell said she and her son met with Hochman, other prosecutors in the DA’s office, the brothers’ attorney and the family’s attorney — and she said she left that meeting feeling “disregarded and disrespected.”
Goodell said when she raised concerns about the DA’s office’s impartiality, Hochman “became visibility agitated, dismissive and aggressive.”
Goodell said her son witnessed the DA’s “abusive, belittling, and unprofessional conduct, further compounding the emotional toll on our family.”
Goodell also alleged that Hochman said the brothers’ attorney “has represented ‘horrible people.” “This inappropriate remark reinforced his bias,” Goodell said.
Besides asking for Hochman to be removed and the case turned over to the attorney general’s office, Goodell said she wants Hochman “held accountable” for his behavior.
She said she also wants Kathleen Cady — who was appointed by Hochman as director of the DA’s Bureau of Victim Service — removed from the case and “a new, unbiased” representative assigned to victim services.
Cady was formerly the attorney for Milton Anderson, the one Menendez relative pushing to keep the brothers in prison. Anderson died last week.
Goodell said that when she brought up her concerns about Cady in the second January meeting, “Hochman coldly dismissed me,” and “interrupted me, speaking in a condescending and hostile manner.”
Hochman said in January that Cady is “walled off from the Menendez case.”
The DA declined to comment on Goodell’s letter.
The Menendez brothers are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez. Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were 21 and 18, respectively, at the time, admitted to the murders but claimed they acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father.
The brothers are pursuing three possible paths to freedom.
One is a request for clemency to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor announced in February that he’s ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day risk assessment investigation into whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
Another path is a habeas corpus petition the brothers filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial. Hochman in February asked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the new evidence wasn’t credible or admissible, and saying their claims of sexual assault do not justify killing their parents in self-defense.
The third is resentencing.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Hochman, who became DA in December, is expected to release his position on resentencing imminently. He is holding a press conference at 10 a.m. local time Monday.
ABC News’ Kaitlyn Morris contributed to this report.
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