What’s next for the case of the Menéndez brothers convicted of killing their parents in 1989?

The Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office will send a judge this Friday the recommendation that the life sentences without parole be eliminated against Lyle and Erik Menéndez, brothers imprisoned for life for killing their parents more than three decades ago.

This follows the decision announced Thursday by District Attorney George Gascónwho in a press conference reported that his office would recommend that the brothers be sentenced to between 50 years and life in prison. Both were under 26 years old at the time of the crimes, so they will legally be eligible for immediate parole.

“I have reached a point where I believe that, under the law, it is appropriate to re-sentence,” Gascón said Thursday in front of an aunt of the brothers, who is also the sister of their mother.

According to Gascón, as the process progresses, some members of his office oppose the decision and could be in court when the case is settled. The idea of ​​the Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office is to request the release of the men who are now 53 and 57 years old.

The facts

The Menéndez brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lyle Menéndez was 21 years old at the time, and Erik Menéndez was 18.

Both admitted that they fatally shot their father, entertainment executive José Menéndez, and their mother, Kitty Menéndez.

The brothers said they were afraid their relatives were about to kill them to prevent people from finding out that the father had sexually abused Erik for years.

Family support in favor of liberation

Since the review of the case began to see new evidence that could lead to the release or a new trial of the brothers, relatives have advocated for their release.

“I implore the district attorney’s office to end our prolonged suffering and release Lyle and Erik to return to our family,” said Terry Baralt, the 85-year-old sister of the brothers’ slain father, José Menéndez, in a statement read by his daughter, Anamaria Baralt, during a press conference in the middle of this month.

And not just the sister of the murdered father. About 20 family members were at the same news conference to make clear to the district attorney’s office their desire for the brothers to be released or given a new trial.

Anamaria Baralt and other family members said then that they believe the brothers were victims of sexual abuse and that the justice system now has a better understanding of how that abuse can lead people to commit violent crimes. They said that if the brothers’ trial had been held today, they believe the two would have received lighter sentences.

In an emotional moment Thursday as he made his announcement, District Attorney George Gascón greeted several family members sitting in the front rows, including aunt Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sister of Kitty Menéndez and who has publicly supported the release of his nephews.

Mark Geragos, the brothers’ attorney, was also present.

What is the new evidence that led to the resentencing decision?

At the Menéndez brothers’ televised trial in 1996, both said they had been victims of sexual abuse by both parents. Prosecutors argued that both were seeking to get hold of their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.

They had two trials because the first ended with a hung jury. For prosecutors, at that time there was no evidence of sexual abuse and many details of his story about it did not come to light in the second trial.

This time, investigators have examined a letter that Erik Menendez allegedly wrote eight months before the murders in which he described the abuse.

They have also been reviewing allegations by a member of the 1980s pop band Menudo that he was abused by José Menéndez when he was a music executive. Those allegations were made public last year in the Peacock documentary series titled “Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed”.

The Netflix series and the influence of celebrities like Kardashian

This decision by the Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office comes after the strength that the Menendez brothers’ case has gained in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true crime drama “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez.”

Despite their life sentences, Gascón said Thursday that the brothers worked on redemption and rehabilitation inside prison.

“I think they have paid their debt to society,” he concluded.

The brothers’ lawyer, Mark Geragos, has described them as “model prisoners” who have worked “tirelessly to reform themselves without hope of being released.”

But perhaps the most media support has come from the celebrity of reality Kim Kardashian who wrote for NBCNews that it is time for the Menéndez brothers to be released.

“I have spent time with Lyle and Erik, they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, honest men. In prison, they both have exemplary disciplinary records. They have earned multiple college degrees, worked as caregivers for incarcerated elderly people in hospice, and have been mentors in university programs, committed to helping others,” he wrote at the beginning of this October.

“When I visited the prison three weeks ago, one of the officials told me that he would feel comfortable having the two of them as neighbors,” he added.

Kardashian reiterated that 24 family members, including her parents’ siblings, “have released statements fully supporting Lyle and Erik and have respectfully requested that the justice system release them.”

However, he admitted that “the murders are not excusable.”

“But we must not deny who they are today, at 50 years old. The trial and punishment these brothers received were more typical of a serial killer than of two individuals who endured years of sexual abuse by the very people they loved and they trusted. I do not believe that spending their entire natural lives in prison was the appropriate punishment for this complex case,” he stated in his text.

As others advocating for the brothers’ release have argued, Kardashian stated that “if this crime had been committed and prosecuted today… the outcome would have been radically different.”

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