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In 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents by shooting them up close to their country house in Beverly Hills.
They were found guilty of murder of the first degree and conspiracy for murder in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of conditional release.
On Tuesday, a judge in Los Angeles reduced their punishment, making them eligible for conditional release.
There is renewed public interest in the case after a new Netflix drama, monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was released in September.
Last year the previous public prosecutor of Los Angeles, George Gascón, asked for a change in the prison sentence of the brothers from life without the possibility of conditional release up to 50 years to life.
The hearing was placed on Tuesday to Los Angeles County Superior Court Michael Jesic, who the brothers Hijb.
“I really believe they have done enough in the last 35 years that they should get that chance,” he said, a day -long hearing.
The brothers are eligible for conditional release under the youthful perpetrator law of California, as a result of which people who have committed crimes before 26 years to seek a reduced punishment.
The brothers and sisters were 18 and 21 years old at the time. They are now 54 and 57 years old.
During the hearing, family members and a former colleague prisoner belonged to those who testified to support the resentment.
People who worked with the brothers in prison spoke about the educational courses they had completed and how they made a hospice initiative for the elderly and sick.
The office of the public prosecutor, which fiercely opposes a lower punishment, said that the brothers “have continued to apologize” for their behavior instead of taking full responsibility and were not rehabilitated.
The brothers spoke with the court via video and apologized for their actions.
They also spoke about their hope to work with victims of sexual abuse and to help them imprisoned if they got a second chance outside prison.
The California Parole Board will now decide whether the brothers will be released from prison.
Separately, the State Governor, Gavin Newsom, considers a request from the brothers for clementia. If approved, this can lead to a reduced sentence or a grace.
Governor Newsom asked the Parole Board to carry out a risk assessment that investigates whether the brothers pose a risk to the general public if released.
The full report was not released, but the public prosecutor said it indicated a “moderate risk of violence”.
The hearing of the Parole Board about the Clementia -Petition will take place on 13 June.
It is unclear whether the board will also take into account the possibility of conditional release based on the resentment of Judge Jesic during the same hearing.
Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on August 20, 1989 in their house in Beverly Hills.
Their father, a 45-year-old Hollywood director, was shot six times with a gun that the brothers had bought days before the attack.
Their mother died after 10 shotgun to suffer from different parts of her body.
The brothers initially told the police that they found their parents dead when they came home.
They were arrested after the girlfriend of a psychologist who had treated Erik Menendez, went to the police to say he had physically threatened the doctor.
The brothers claimed that they committed the murders in self -defense after years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse, although no molestation has never been proven in court.
They said they feared that their father would kill them after they had threatened him to expose him.
However, prosecutors argued that the young men had killed their successful parents to inherit their estate of several millions of dollars.
The brothers were taken into custody in 1990 and in 1993 they were tried for the murders, first individually, with one jury for each brother.
However, both juries were proven in 1994, which resulted in a mistrial, and the couple were later tried together again in 1995.
During their joint trial, the judge excluded the apparent proof of abuse from their defense case. Recorded sessions with a doctor, in which the murders were discussed, were admitted by the court in court.
She found a jury guilty and the couple was convicted of murder of the first degree and conspiracy to murder in 1996.
The brothers, who were separated during their detention after a detective who examined the Slayings, said they can work together to escape when they are housed together, reunited in the prison in 2018.
The case was put back in the spotlight after Netflix had released a drama series about the brothers in September.
Samples: The Lyle and Erik Mendez Story, shot at the top of the streaming graph of the platform and would have had 12.3 million views in the first weekend of release.
It investigates what the brothers and sisters could have led to kill their parents and it presents the murders from different perspectives.
The makers said that the series was based on extensive research and follows the events around the murders.
It includes the claims of the brothers about abuse and shows things from the parents’ position.
The show introduced the business to a new generation and attracted the attention of celebrities – including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell – who called on the brothers to be released.
The series was a sequel to the controversial First Monsters series about the American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
After the release, Erik Menendez shared a statement, released on X by his wife.
He said that the show was “discouraging slander” and he “believed that we had gone beyond the lies and devastating character portraits of Lyle”.
“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s unfair representation of the tragedies around our crime has taken several steps backwards – back in time to an era when the persecution built a story on a religious system that men were not sexually abused, and that men did not experience trauma than women,” he added.
Members of the family also expressed themselves and said that the brothers “were the victims of this grotesque shockadrama”, and the show was “full of Mistross”.
Ryan Murphy, who created the show, Variable told that the comments were “at best predictable”.
He added that the family’s reaction “was” interesting because I would like details about what they find shocking or not shocking. It’s not like we’re making something like this. It is all presented earlier “.