What’s next for the Menendez brothers?

The Los Angeles County District Attorney recommended that: Menendez brothers’ life sentences without parole lifted and the brothers will be resented and immediately eligible for parole.

But the brothers still have a long way to go before they can be released from prison. Wherever they have been for the last 35 years.

Lyle Menendez, 21, and Erik Menendez, 18, admitted to fatally shooting their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills mansion. The siblings said they feared their parents were about to kill themselves to keep people from finding out Jose Menendez had been sexually abusing Erik Menendez for years.

Erik Menendez (C) and his brother Lyle (L) are seen in Beverly Hills on August 12, 1991. (Photo: MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Prosecutors at the time claimed there was no evidence of abuse. The brothers’ first trial ended with a hung jury, and prosecutors won a conviction in the second trial after much of the evidence of the abuse was excluded from the trial. The district attorney’s office also said at the time that the brothers were after their parents’ millions of dollars in property.

READ MORE: Menendez Brothers: Journalist Robert Rand discusses finding Erik’s letter

Prosecutors and relatives say the world now better understands the role of trauma in sexual abuse cases.

The brothers’ extended family requested their release. Many members of the family said that in today’s world, where the effects of sexual abuse are more aware, the brothers would not be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

What’s next for the Menendez brothers?

The prosecutor’s office filed documents Thursday recommending 50-year prison sentences for the brothers, who are now 54 and 56 years old. Because they were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be immediately eligible for parole.

RELATING TO: Kim Kardashian says Menendez Brothers ‘given a second chance at life’ after decades in prison

“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” the prosecutor said.

The hearing before the judge could take place as soon as next month. If the judge agrees to resentencing, the state parole board will follow its own procedure to decide whether defendants should be released. If the board recommends parole, Newsom will have 150 days to review the case. The governor can green-light parole or override the board and deny their release.

When will the Menendez brothers be released from prison?

The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, said he was hopeful the brothers could be released by Thanksgiving. Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, called that deadline “extremely encouraging.”

Levenson warned that the judge likely won’t be a “rubber stamp” because of opposition within the DA’s office.

“This actually puts the judge in a very challenging position,” Levenson said, noting that until recently he had never heard of a case in which the head of the office disagreed with other attorneys involved in the case. Ultimately, Gascón chose the “safest route” for his decision, leaving the decision to the court and the parole board.

What is the new evidence in the Menendez brothers case?

The prosecutor’s office said the case was being evaluated after “new evidence” emerged. FOX Los Angeles reports. One piece of evidence was a letter Erik allegedly wrote to his cousin Andy Cano. According to the brothers’ lawyers, Cano’s mother found the letter nine years ago. Cano testified at trial that Erik told him about his father’s abuse when Erik was 13. Cano died in 2003.

Roy Rossello, a former member of Latin pop group Menudo, also recently came forward and said he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez as a teenager in the 1980s.

Rossello talked about his abuse in the 2023 Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: The Boys Betrayed.” His allegations are part of the evidence listed in a petition filed by the Menendez brothers’ attorney last year seeking review of their case.

Kitty Menendez’s sister doesn’t support getting angry

Snow covers the grave site of Jose and Kitty Menendez in Princeton, New Jersey, on January 10, 1994. (Photo: Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images)

Not all members of the Menendez family support resentment. Lawyers for Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, filed a legal brief seeking to preserve the brothers’ original sentence.

“They shot their mother, Kitty, while reloading to ensure her death,” Andersen’s lawyers said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence is crystal clear: The jury’s verdict was fair and the sentence fits this heinous crime.”