The Menendez brothers were praised by prosecutors for resentencing them in court

“Erik and Lyle Menendez's positive transformation and their ability to find meaning and purpose in their current incarceration demonstrate how much circumstances have changed since their sentence to life without parole,” the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said The official documents recommend that the siblings, who were imprisoned for almost three decades and who murdered their parents in 1989, be resentenced.

First reported exclusively by Deadline and announced by District Attorney George Gascón at a downtown press conference on October 24, the lawsuit, which could lead to the Menendez brothers' release in just a few months, is now before Judge William Ryan of the Los Angeles Superior Court . If Judge Ryan agrees that the now 50-year-olds deserve to be resentenced to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole, then a parole board will have the final say when the brothers are released from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego .

“The murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez in August 1989, while clearly planned, followed years of alleged sexual and emotional abuse,” says the 57-page motion filed last night, slightly ahead of schedule, DA Gascón said in the press conference on Thursday. “Although Erik and Lyle Menendez have moved on from the horror of what is said to have occurred in the family home, they have proven themselves to be empathetic individuals who care about the community and are committed to the betterment of the collective.”

“The defendants have demonstrated that they no longer pose a risk to public safety … so their current sentence no longer serves to promote justice,” added Nancy Theberge, deputy chief of the resentencing division, and Brock Lunsford, deputy chief of post-sentencing and litigation, on behalf of her boss Gascón, who is seeking re-election.

Read the Los Angeles District Attorney's motion to resentence the Menendez brothers here

With that, the cases of Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, attracted a wave of new attention, due in large part to new evidence revealed in a Peacock documentary last year, as well as a slew of TikTok videos, the advocacy of Kim Kardashian and others Ryan Murphy's highly successful nine-part Netflix series Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez.

The new evidence has been in the possession of the struggling Gascón's shared office for nearly a year and includes allegations that music manager Jose Menendez sexually abused at least one member of the boy band Menudo in the 1980s. More importantly, there is also a 1988 letter that Erik Menendez wrote to one of his cousins ​​in which he recounted the repeated sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. The handwritten correspondence was sent over eight months before the brothers shot their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home. “I never know when it will happen and it drives me crazy,” Menendez, then 18, wrote to his relative about his “overweight” father’s attacks.

Thursday's filing also details the programs and rehabilitation programs and “self-work” the Menendez brothers did during the 30 years they were behind bars. These extensive programs for himself and fellow inmates include: “Although Erik Menendez has no documented history of alcohol or drug abuse, he aggressively engages in programs to maintain sobriety.”

“Both men made incredible contributions to the entire prison system and their fellow inmates on a very personal level,” prosecutors said.

Although reports of the alleged sexual abuse at the Menendez home were allowed in the brothers' first trial (which ended in a mistrial), they were barely mentioned in the second trial in 1996, in which the duo were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

As in recent weeks, Gascón's rival for the DA seat wasted no time this week in lambasting the incumbent for his current moves in the Menendez case.

“He waited until a few days before the November 5 election, when he was down 30 points in the polls and there were articles about how his failed policies led to more murders of innocent people, to recommend his resentencing “To publish,” former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman said in an Oct. 24 statement. “By publishing it now, Gascón has cast a shadow over the fairness and impartiality of his decision and left Angelenos questioning whether the decision was the right one or just another desperate political move by a district attorney running a losing campaign and struggling to capture headlines to make an invented decision. Pro-TV decision. Angelenos and everyone involved deserve better.”

In his press conference yesterday, prosecutor Gascón emphasized that his decision to resentence had nothing to do with his political situation. “I will not talk about re-election,” he declared sternly, surrounded by members of the extended Menendez family who supported the brothers’ resentencing and release.

We will see on November 5th whether this is the case in this case.