California prosecutors have begun reviewing the case of the Menendez brothers to determine whether or not they pair should be resentenced and potentially released after they were convicted of killing their parents in 1989.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced that his office is reviewing possible evidence included in petitions filed by the brothers last year claiming that their father had molested them, according to NBC News.
He said the claims are being reviewed and that none of the information in the petition has been confirmed. The new information will be discussed at a hearing scheduled for November 26.
Gascon made clear that, depending on the court’s decision, the brothers could “walk out.”
“Until we get there, we’re not sure yet which direction this will go,” he said.
The brothers, Joseph “Lyle”, who is now 56, and Erik, 53, were convicted in 1996 for killing their parents with shotguns in 1989.
The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole after two trials, and have been incarcerated in a California prison ever since.
This isn’t the first time the brothers have claimed that they were sexually abused by their father; they made the same claims in their initial trials. Prosecutors at the time argued that the brothers killed their parents to gain their substantial inheritance.
The first trial concluded with a mistrial, but the brothers were tried again in a trial that minimized their abuse claims. That trial ended in their convictions.
The announcement of the potential resentencing comes on the heels of a controversial Netflix series detailing their case called “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
Erik, speaking through his wife, called the version of their lives presented in the seres “blatant lies,” and claimed it had been “ruinous” for Lyle.
The show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, defended the show, saying in an Entertainment Tonight interview that he felt the show had carefully portrayed the brothers’ story and had given them their “day in court.”
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. I know he hasn’t seen the show in prison. I hope he does see the show,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
At least one other person agrees that their presentation in the series has been unfair; Kim Kardashian.
Kardashian, who has advocated for prison reform and for the innocence of unfairly incarcerated individuals in the past, wrote an essay for NBC News in which she stated that “they are not monsters.”
