The Los Angeles prosecutor asked the judiciary to reconsider the sentence Eric and Lyle Menendez after he spent 34 years in prison for killing his parents. He claimed that new evidence had emerged that their father had sexually abused them for years.

This recommendation increases the brothers’ chances of parole.

“I think it is appropriate under the law to resentence them, and I plan to recommend that to the court tomorrow,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference.

Gascón said he would recommend that their life sentences be overturned and replaced with life imprisonment. sentence of 50 years to life imprisonmentbut who would have been eligible for parole due to their young age at the time of the murders.

“I think they’ve paid their debt to society.”

Menendez brothers trial

The Menendez brothers, now 56 and 53, were convicted after the second of two highly publicized trials that have gripped the United States over their wealth and privilege as children of a leading record label and music entertainment industry executive.

Jose Menendez was shot in the back of the head and Kitty Menendez was shot 15 times in her Beverly Hills home. Lyle was 21 at the time, and Eric was 18.

A recent Netflix series dramatizing his story has reignited interest in the case, but for more than a year, lawyers have been negotiating with prosecutors to overturn the conviction or order a new trial, citing new evidence that has come to light to support the case. siblings that they had been sexually abused for years.

In their first trial, which was televised and resulted in a jury verdict in 1994, the brothers testified that they had been sexually abused by both parents for years. that they acted in self-defenseand that their father threatened to kill them if they revealed the abuse.

Prosecutors argued that the couple sought to take over their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.

A jury found them guilty in a second trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, which was not televised, but the same jury also found them guilty. escaped the death penaltychoosing life imprisonment without parole.

Gascón said there was no doubt the brothers killed their parents, but cited new evidence, including a letter Erik Menendez allegedly wrote to a cousin eight months before the murders. in which he described the violence. Had the evidence been presented at trial, the jury might have reached a different result, he said.

Investigators are also looking into allegations against a member of the 1980s pop group. Easywho stated that Jose Menendez abused him. The allegations were made public last year in a Peacock documentary series called “Menendez + Menudo: Devoted Boys.”

Gascón also said he was troubled by comments made by a prosecution member while men can’t be raped. “Our office has developed a more modern understanding of sexual assault since the Menendez brothers first faced criminal charges,” Gascón said in an Oct. 16 statement.

Gascón had previously said he would wait until the Nov. 26 court hearing to rule on the case, but he accelerated the decision given the strong public interest.

He also faces a tough re-election battle against his challenger, Nathan Hochman, on Nov. 5.

The district attorney told CNN on Wednesday that the case has divided his office into two camps.

“I have a group of people, including those who were involved in the original trial, who are convinced that they should spend the rest of their lives in prison and that they were not abused,” Gascón said. “I have other people in my office who actually feel like they were probably mistreated and that they deserve some kind of relief.”