Updated October 24, 2024 at 19:43 PM ET
Erik and Lyle Menendez should be resentenced for the 1989 slaying of their parents, the Los Angeles County District Attorney recommended on Thursday, citing recent public attention to the case in the wake of a new documentary about the brothers.
The recommendation will be presented to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, and the brothers, who are serving life sentences, would be eligible for parole, District Attorney George Gascón said.
"Under the law, resentencing is appropriate," Gascón said, making clear that he still believed that the crime of murder had been committed but that there had been extenuating circumstances that made resentencing appropriate.
"I understand that sometimes people can get desperate," Gascón said.
Gascón said that because the two brothers were under the age of 26 at the time of the killings, he recommended the sentencing be changed from life without the possibility of parole instead to the lesser sentence of 50 years to life, which would make the Menendez brothers now eligible for release.
More than 30 years after the pair were convicted of the brutal murders of their parents, the case continues to grip the national focus, including a recent Netflix series about the siblings and deep dives by social media sleuths over the years.
On Aug. 20, 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot to death in their Beverly Hills home while they were watching television.
Two juries deadlocked in 1994 after Lyle, now 56 years old, and Erik, 53, testified that they shot their parents in self-defense. The brothers said they had feared their parents were going to kill them to prevent stories emerging about the alleged physical and sexual abuse of their sons.
The brothers said that Jose, a record executive, had been sexually abusive, while Kitty turned a blind eye to their molestation.
Jose has also been accused by one of the members of the hit Latin band Menudo, who said the then-RCA Records exec molested him in his early teens.
The Menendez brothers were 18 and 21 years old at the time of the killings.
After the shootings, the two went on a lavish spending spree, and initially, authorities believed that the murders had been the result of a mafia hit.
The brothers would eventually admit to killing their parents, citing the abuse, which was corroborated by another family member.
After a second trial, in which a judge limited testimony related to their sexual abuse, the brothers were convicted of the shooting deaths of their parents.
“Since the original prosecution of the Menendez brothers more than nearly three decades ago, our office has gained a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual violence," Gascón said.
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