Menendez brothers press conference: Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón will recommend resentencing in Menendez case

LOS ANGELES– Prosecutors are proposing that Erik and Lyle Menendez express remorse for killing their parents at the family’s Beverly Hills home in 1989, giving the brothers a chance at freedom after 34 years behind bars.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced his decision at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

“We will propose to the court (on Friday) that the sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole be abolished and that they be sentenced for murder, which will mean a sentence of 50 years to life in prison,” Gascón said. But because of their age (they were both under 26 at the time of the crimes) they would be eligible for immediate parole, he said.

“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” he said. “The judge will make the final decision”

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The decades-old case began on Aug. 20, 1989, when Lyle and Erik Menendez fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at the family’s Beverly Hills home. Lyle Menendez, 21, and Erik Menendez, 18, used shotguns they had purchased days earlier.

Prosecutors claimed the brothers killed their wealthy parents for financial gain.

The defense argued that the siblings acted in self-defense after being subjected to years of sexual abuse by their father.

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Their first trial, which attracted national attention with cameras in the courtroom, ended in mistrials.

At the end of a second trial in 1996, in which the judge barred much of the sexual abuse evidence, the brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The sensational case gained renewed attention this fall with the release of the Netflix drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and the Netflix documentary “The Menendez Brothers.”

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Gascón said this month that his office was evaluating new evidence: allegations from a member of the boy band Menudo who said he was abused by Jose Menendez and a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders, detailing the allegations of abuse.

Erik Menendez’s cousin testified at trial about the alleged abuse, but Erik Menendez’s letter corroborating his cousin’s testimony was not uncovered until several years ago, according to Geragos.

Nearly two dozen relatives of the brothers gathered at a news conference last week to express their anger.

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“While their actions were tragic, they were the desperate response of two children trying to escape their father’s unspeakable cruelty,” said Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister. “As their aunt, I had no idea the extent of the abuse they were subjected to.”

“It’s time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives away from the shadow of their past,” he said.

Anamaria Baralt, Jose Menendez’s niece, added that behind bars the brothers “strive to improve themselves and be a source of support and inspiration to survivors around the world.” “Their continued incarceration serves no rehabilitative purpose.”

“Siblings deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,” Baralt said.

Despite the tremendous support shown, one relative, the brothers’ uncle, Milton Andersen, is determined to keep them behind bars. He said in a statement that he firmly believed that his nephews were not sexually assaulted and that they were motivated by greed.

ABC News and Associated Press contributed to this report.