They murdered their parents: Famous Menendez brothers soon free after decades?

Los Angeles/Beverly Hills - In the summer of 1996, Lyle (56) and Erik Menendez (53) were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Seven years earlier, the brothers had shot and killed their parents Jose and Kitty! Netflix brought new attention to their case this year. Now the brothers could soon be free again.

This double murder has been making international headlines for more than thirty years: On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their wealthy parents in their Beverly Hills home, provided themselves with an alibi and eventually called the police themselves.

But in the months that followed, they squandered so much money that they came to the attention of investigators. They were arrested in 1990 and convicted in 1996 after a second trial.

But their time in prison could soon be over. This Friday, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón will recommend to a judge that the siblings be re-sentenced, CNN reports.

Defense attorneys had stated last year that they had new evidence that the brothers were abused by their father!

The true-crime series "Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez" also focuses on the brothers' conflict with their father. In the trial scenes (as in the real trials in the 1990s), the two are said to have killed their parents not because of inheritance, but out of fear of a life of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

The series was released on Netflix in September and became an international success for the streaming provider.

Many viewers sympathized with the protagonists, played by Cooper Koch (28, Lyle) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (25, Erik), and saw the brothers not only as perpetrators but also as victims.

George Gascón nevertheless emphasized to CNN: "I will never excuse murder, and these were brutal, premeditated murders." The prosecutor explained: "They were sentenced appropriately at the time of the trial. They got life in prison without the possibility of parole."

He explained: "I just think that given the current state of the law and our assessment of their behavior in prison, they deserve the chance to be reassessed and perhaps reintegrated into society"

A life sentence currently means 50 years in prison. At the time of the double murder, the brothers were 21 and 18 years old - under California law, they would therefore be eligible for juvenile parole.

According to CNN, the decision could be made in 30 to 45 days.

"I'm overwhelmed with gratitude and hope for the progress we've seen today," Cooper Koch, who played Erik Menendez in the Netflix series, said after Gascón's announcement.

But he also emphasized that there is still a long road to freedom: "The judge has to approve the resentencing, and when that happens, the parole board has to recognize the time the defendants have served as appropriate for the crime."