LOS ANGELES– More than thirty years later Lyle and Erik Menendez Siblings convicted of murdering their parents and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole now see a path to their potential release.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón on Friday. I recommend that a judge get angry at the brothers – A decision that was the result of a review that came after defense lawyers said they had new evidence pointing to abuse by their father in 2023.

“I will never excuse murder, and these were brutal, premeditated murders,” Gascón told CNN on Thursday. “They were sentenced to an appropriate sentence at the time of their trial. They received life without the possibility of parole. Given the current state of the law and our assessment of their behavior in prison, I think they deserve the opportunity to be re-trial-evaluated and perhaps reintegrated into the community.”

A hearing on the matter could be held in 30 to 45 days, and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge will ultimately decide whether the brothers will be resentenced. Gascón said he supports sentencing the brothers to life in prison with the possibility of parole, which normally means 50 years to life in prison. But because the crimes were committed when the brothers were under 26, they would be eligible for juvenile parole under California law.

RELATING TO: ‘IMPACT x Nightline’ revisits the controversial case from ‘The Menendez Brothers: Monsters or Victims?’

Calling the brothers “model prisoners,” Gascón told CNN he believed they had a good chance of being paroled if the decision reached the parole board. An attorney for one of the brothers said he hopes they will be home by Thanksgiving.

The reexamination of the case comes 35 years after Jose and Kitty Menendez were fatally shot at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. His sons, then 21 and 18, were arrested less than a year later, in 1990, and convicted of first-degree murder in 1996.

In two high-profile cases, the brothers did not deny killing their parents, but argued they should not have been convicted because they acted in self-defense after suffering physical and sexual abuse from their father throughout their lives. The first trial, one of the first to be televised, ended in a mistrial when jurors deadlocked on the charges. At the second trial, much of the defense evidence regarding sexual abuse was excluded, and the brothers were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Many factors ultimately led to this angry recommendation, but it remains unclear whether the brothers, now in their 50s, will be released from prison. Here’s what led to this decision and what might happen next:

What led to the prosecutor’s decision?

Speaking to CNN’s Stephanie Elam on Thursday, Gascón said that although he believes Lyle and Erik Menendez were appropriately punished during their trials more than 30 years ago, they deserve a chance to be reconsidered. Gascón said he believed the brothers were sexually abused before the murders and that they had served enough time behind bars.

Gascón told CNN that his decision was made just an hour before making the announcement on Thursday because his office had very different views on the case. There were many factors in the decision to recommend resentencing, including the fact that multiple family members “said not only that sexual abuse might have been involved, but that this was a very dysfunctional, very abusive home, and that was it.” many years,” said the Gascon.

“I believe they’ve had enough time,” he said.

Gascón’s reexamination of the case comes after lawyers for the Menendez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in 2023, citing what they say is new evidence as well as a new California law on resentment under which the court can consider sentences in similar cases.

Among the new evidence the court was asked to consider in the 2023 petition was: The affidavit of former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló, who alleged that Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him in the 1980s. The lawyers also said a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin months before the murders alluded to the abuse he suffered.

Gascón, who is campaigning for re-election next month on a platform that includes sentencing reform, told CNN that times are changing when it comes to how the public and the courts treat victims of sexual abuse.

The district attorney’s office also evaluated the brothers’ behavior during incarceration and “made tremendous efforts to rehabilitate them,” Gascón said.

“They were exemplary prisoners in every way. Not only did they improve themselves, but they also did a lot of work to improve the lives of those around them, which is unusual,” Gascón told CNN. He noted that the men formed groups to address how to deal with untreated trauma and how to help physically disabled inmates.

Referring to their behavior over the last three decades in prison, Gascón said he believed the brothers had a strong chance of being paroled.

“What they did was terrible. They pre-planned the murder of their parents and killed them. But I think they are different people today, and we base our opinion on the behavior of the last 35 years,” Gascón said.

However, according to the district attorney, if the court agrees with the district attorney’s office on resentencing, the decision on whether the brothers will be paroled will ultimately rest with the parole board.

“There is nothing political about this,” Gascón said when asked about mounting criticism from opponents who suggested that the review of the Menendez brothers’ sentencing was a political move, adding that more than 300 resentencings had occurred in the county since he took office in December 2020. Including 28 for murder.

Lawyers hope they will be released by Thanksgiving

Thursday’s verdict provided a glimmer of hope for the brothers’ lawyers and their families; The lawyers said they expected the men would soon be able to reunite with their loved ones and live a life outside of prison.

“I believe they will be home before Thanksgiving,” Mark Geragos, one of the brothers’ attorneys, said Thursday.

“We are grateful that the district attorney recognized not only the extraordinary contributions that Erik and Lyle made while in prison, but also the role that sexual abuse played in their actions,” another attorney, Cliff Gardner, told CNN. he said.

Nancy Theberge, Gascon’s deputy in charge of the escalation unit, said the escalation petition will be filed Friday along with documents supporting Gascon’s recommendation.

He later said his unit would coordinate with defense and court staff to determine the dates for the next hearings. Once the trial date is set, the defense can decide whether the brothers will be physically present in the courtroom or via video or conference. Then all allegations and evidence will be accepted. Theberge said the judge will decide based on what is presented.

“We are just starting the process,” he said.

Separate from the angry recommendation, the habeas corpus petition filed last year is scheduled to be heard in November. The petition states that the defense wants the court to either annul the brothers’ conviction and sentence or allow a discovery and evidentiary hearing where they can present evidence.

But Gascón told CNN on Thursday that the defense team could withdraw the petition if the prosecutor grants the resentencing request, which would also become moot if the court grants the resentencing.

“I don’t agree with Habeas’ allegations. I think the conviction is appropriate, considering what was there,” Gascón told CNN. “But I believe that getting angry again is a convenient tool to provide them with some means of relief.”

‘A day full of hope for our family’

The brothers’ story received new attention following the September release of the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Netflix also released a documentary about the Menendez case this month, in which both men discuss what led to the murders.

Nery Ynclan, executive producer of the documentary series “Menendez + Menudo: The Children Betrayed,” said it was “a miraculous day for the Menendez brothers.”

“They had exhausted their appeal years ago. They had no chance of even having hope of freedom, and only new compelling evidence could be put forward to give them a chance,” Ynclan told CNN’s Laura Coates on Thursday night.

Celebrity and criminal justice reform advocate Kim Kardashian, who voiced her support for the brothers, thanked Gascón for “righting an important wrong.”

“Your commitment to truth and justice is commendable,” he wrote in a statement posted to his Instagram stories. “This case highlights the importance of challenging decisions and seeking the truth, even when guilt is not in question.”

Anamaria Baralt, Jose Menendez’s niece, called Gascón’s decision “brave and necessary.”

“Today is a day of hope for our family,” he said Thursday. “Together we can make sure Erik and Lyle get the justice they deserve and finally come home.”

(-CNN-Tel & 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)