Prosecutor Recommends Resentencing in Menendez Brothers Murder Case | RJR News

The Los Angeles County District Attorney has recommended that a judge reprimand and release on parole Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers convicted of killing their parents in a case that shook America more than three decades ago.

The 1989 murders of Kitty and Jose Menendez at their Beverly Hills mansion gripped the United States for years and recently inspired a popular Netflix series.

The case focused on Erik and Lyle Menendez’s motives in the murders, in which their parents were shot 13 times while watching television.

L.A. County attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that new evidence in the case warrants a review of the life sentences.

“I believe the brothers suffered a tremendous amount of dysfunction and abuse in their home,” Mr. Gascón said Thursday.

He added that although there was no excuse for the murder, “I believe they paid their debt to society.”

During criminal trials in the 1990s, prosecutors portrayed the brothers as rich kids who regularly planned murders to gain access to their parents’ fortune.

But defense attorneys argued that the brothers were victims of years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and acted solely in self-defense.

Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole in California.

The siblings have a long road ahead of them before they can potentially roam free.

A judge will have the final say on whether the brothers will be resented, and the parole board will have to examine whether the brothers should be released after serving more than 30 years in prison.