• Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón plans to hold a hearing in which prosecutors and the defense will present arguments for and against the Menendez brothers’ release. However, their family is “a little afraid to put the cart before the horse” regarding the expectation of imminent release.
• “I think it would be amazing,” Annamaria Baralt, whose mother is José Menendez’s sister, told PEOPLE. “I think my mother and Joan VanderMolen, Kitty’s sister, couldn’t be happier to see this happen.”
• “Even though we are in family together, we never forget that Lyle and Erik are not with us,” adds Baralt. “So we are all looking forward to that day when we will be together again. It will be our dream come true”
  

The call came just minutes before Anamaria Baralt’s yoga class at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, October 23. A lawyer representing his cousins Lyle and Erik Menendez told him that his family members had to be in his Los Angeles office the next morning at 11 a.m.

After 34 years behind bars, the Menendez brothers, who fatally shot their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez at their Beverly Hills, Calif., home in 1989, may unexpectedly soon return home.

“Let go of everything. We need you,” Baralt, 53, wrote in an email to other family members, who, like her, called for the brothers’ release from prison.

The next day, she took an early morning flight from Seattle to Los Angeles, where Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was scheduled to speak about the case at an afternoon news conference.

“We didn’t know what he was going to say until we got there,” Baralt tells PEOPLE, who adds that about a dozen family members flew from all over the country to be there . “We just wanted to make sure the world knew how much support they have.”

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Surrounded by several members of the brothers’ extended family at the Los Angeles courthouse, Gascón announced that he recommend that Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, who say they killed their parents because they feared for their lives after years of sexual abuse at the hands of their father, should each be sentenced to 50 years in prison at perpetuity.

Given their ages at the time of the murders – Erik was 18 and Lyle 21 – the brothers would be considered “youthful offenders” and would therefore be immediately eligible for parole. “We are sure, not only that the brothers have rehabilitated themselves and will be able to reintegrate into our society in complete safety, but that they have also paid their dues,” Gascón said, adding that in prison they had worked for “improve the situation”. the lives of so many others.

To make the decision, attorneys in the district attorney’s sentencing unit combed through statements from siblings, prison officials and family members. They also examined evidence of psychological trauma and physical abuse that contributed to the commission of the crimes.

As part of the motion seeking resentencing, Gascón said he would argue that keeping Erik and Lyle behind bars for life without parole is “no longer in the interest of justice,” noting that the cultural understanding of the sexual abuse they claim to have suffered has been altered. amended.

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For Erik and Lyle, Gascón’s request for a new sentence – which must then be approved by a judge – was a resounding victory. Their efforts to secure their release began last year, when lawyers filed a lawsuit. habeas corpus petition on their behalf based on new evidence from a letter allegedly sent by Erik to a cousin
months before the 1989 murders which referenced Jose’s continued sexual assaults as well as a sworn statement from a former member of the boy band Menudo, Roy Rosselloalleging he was raped by José in the 1980s. The effort has gained momentum in recent months with the launch of Netflix. Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez and a separate Netflix documentary, The Menéndez brotherswere seen by a largely sympathetic audience.

Mark Geragos, the brothers’ post-conviction attorney, spoke to them shortly after Gascón’s announcement and declined to comment on their reaction. “I’ll just say they’re happy,” he tells PEOPLE, “and it’s a big step forward.”

Meanwhile, Gascón’s office has begun planning a hearing — during which prosecutors and the defense will present written and oral arguments for and against the brothers’ release — which is necessary to submit the case to the judge who will rule a decision.

Geragos thinks maybe it could happen before Thanksgiving.

“I think it would be amazing,” shares Baralt, whose mother is Jose’s sister. “I think my mother and Joan VanderMolen, Kitty’s sister, couldn’t be happier to see this happen.”

But Baralt notes that the family is holding off on planning a Thanksgiving reunion.

“I think we’re all a little afraid of putting the cart before the horse,” she reveals. “You have to understand that there have been many, many years of poor outcomes from the courts, so planning anything at this time doesn’t seem to be superstitious, but it is a little scary. It was very hard. There’s just a hole in your heart that’s never truly filled, and with every holiday there’s a bittersweet side. Even though we are a family together, we never forget that Lyle and Erik are not with us. So we are all really looking forward to that day when we will be together again. This will be our dream come true.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected with a certified crisis counselor.