Los Angeles no longer has a pro-criminal ideologue serving as its district attorney. This means cold-blooded murderers like the Menendez brothers aren’t going to be given freedom as part of cynical election strategies.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman withdrew his predecessor’s recommendation that Erik and Lyle Menendez have their life sentences reduced. Hochman replaced George Gascon, who tried to push for the brothers’ release as a last-gasp attempt to save his pitiful reelection campaign, hoping that the social media sympathizers who watched the recent Netflix series about the brothers would flock to his side and keep him in office.
The social media fervor and Gascon’s newfound interest in the case were the result of Netflix’s “true crime” documentary trying to drum up sympathy for the convicted murderers, a phenomenon that most prominently played out with the docuseries Making a Murderer. Gascon, quick to buy any sob story from a criminal, decided that the possibility the brothers had been sexually abused by their father justified letting them out for two murders.
The reality remains, though, that the Menendez brothers tried to cover up their murders. They tried to manipulate 911 officers and the police emotionally and planned out an alibi for the murders. During the murders, one of the brothers left the home to reload his shotgun before firing the shot that killed their mother, who was trying to crawl away and has not been alleged to be involved in the alleged sexual abuse. The brothers then went on a lavish spending spree that included buying three Rolex watches, two cars, $50,000 for a tennis coach, a $300,000 deposit on a restaurant, and courtside tickets to a New York Knicks game, among other things.
GAVIN NEWSOM BEGINS ‘DETERMINATION OF CLEMENCY’ FOR MENENDEZ BROTHERS
Hochman, a real prosecutor who thinks that criminals belong in jail and people who don’t commit crimes should be safe, recognizes the reality of this case. In withdrawing the resentencing recommendation, Hochman noted that the brothers have continuously justified the brutal murders, which included shooting their parents’ in the knees “to stage it as a Mafia killing,” and that the brothers have “never come clean and admitted that they lied about their self-defense.”
Gascon may be easily manipulated by Netflix shows, but a real prosecutor is not. Hochman’s priority is justice and public safety, as it should be. This is yet further proof that Los Angeles has an adult in the district attorney’s office after years of Gascon’s weakness.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
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