Los Angeles has a brand-new District Attorney, and boy, is he already making waves. Nathan Hochman, fresh off the D.A. throne swap, has made it clear he’s not about to give the Menendez Brothers a do-over in court. And guess what? Monsters actor Cooper Koch is NOT having it.
ICYMI: Former D.A. George Gascon was totally cool with the idea of re-sentencing the Menendez brothers, meaning they could have walked out of prison, possibly stopping for a celebratory In-N-Out on the way home. But nope, Hochman’s not on board.
Apparently, some spicy new evidence surfaced, suggesting the brothers weren’t just acting out for funsies but were actually victims of some horrific abuse by their father. Hochman, however, is side-eyeing this so-called “new” evidence like it’s an expired coupon at the grocery store.
During a press conference on Friday, Hochman went full detective mode, saying, “We looked at this 1988 letter from Erik Menendez to Andy Cano, and uh… yeah, not buying it.” He basically suggested the letter might belong in the “too little, too late” pile, calling into question its credibility.
And he didn’t stop there! Hochman kept dropping legal jargon like it was hot, explaining that even IF the letter was real (big if, apparently), it wasn’t introduced at the time of trial and took way too long to make an entrance—kind of like that one friend who only shows up after dessert is served.
So what happens next? Well, unless the court decides to pull a plot twist, Hochman thinks the Menendez brothers’ habeas petition should be sent straight to the rejection bin. However, the court could issue an “order to show cause,” which sounds fancy but is basically legal-speak for, “Okay, prove it.”
Meanwhile, Cooper Koch—who played Erik Menendez in Netflix’s Monsters—is out here fuming. In a dramatic turn of events, he took to his brother Payton Koch’s Instagram Story (because where else would an official statement go in 2025?) to express his deep distress over Hochman’s decision.
“I am deeply troubled by the statement made today by District Attorney Nathan Hochman,” Cooper declared, likely while furiously refreshing Twitter.
He went on, “I still firmly believe that the Menendez brothers did NOT get a fair second trial, and all that crucial evidence—y’know, the stuff that backs up their claims of abuse—was totally ignored.”
Despite the setback, Cooper remains hopeful that justice will prevail and that the Menendez brothers might still get a chance at freedom. His final rallying cry? “Keep your voices strong!”—which is basically activist code for “Don’t let this drama die down, people!”
Stay tuned for the next episode of L.A. Law & Chaos!
