What's next for the Menendez brothers?

The Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has recommended a resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez after being sentenced to life in 1996 for murdering their parents.

"I will never excuse murder, and those were brutal, premeditated murders," Gascón told CNN on Thursday (24 October). "They were appropriately sentenced at the time when they were tried. They got life without the possibility of parole. I just think that given the current state of the law and given our assessment of their behaviour in prison, they deserve the opportunity to be re-evaluated and perhaps reintegrated into the community."

The decision for the resentence will be made by a judge after the brothers have spent more than 30 years behind bars.

If it's agreed upon, it would make them eligible for a parole hearing and a possible prison release.

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On 20 August 20 1989, the Menendez brothers shot their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home. Lyle and Erik were found guilty of their parent's murders and sentenced to life in prison.

Their defence argued the pair were victims of years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and acted out of self-defence.

"[The Menendez trials] probably had the effect, maybe good, maybe bad, of demonstrating that, even if you didn’t have a celebrity, if the circumstances were dramatic enough, people will be captivated," Steve Brill, the founder of Court TV, told Rolling Stone in 2017. "We’ve had lots of trials like that since, but that was really the one that proved that people would be interested in watching big trials."

The case has drawn even more attention in recent times due to TikTok and the Netflix documentary.

"I believe the brothers were subject to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in their home and molestation," Gascón said, adding: "I believe they have paid their debt to society".

So, what happens next?

A hearing could be held in 30 to 45 days where the judge will hear the arguments about their release. The brothers may be in attendance.

Gascón suggested that members of his staff might argue against him in court.

If the parole board approves their release, California Gov Gavin Newsom could still reject it.

The re-examination of the case comes after the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in 2023 with new evidence. Among the new evidence, is a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló who claimed the father of the Menendez brothers sexually assaulted him in the 1980s.

The attorneys also said that a letter from one of the brothers was sent to their cousin months before the killings that referenced the abuse the brothers endured.

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