Los Angeles
CNN
—

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is expected to announce his decision Thursday afternoon on whether to recommend a resentencing in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were convicted more than 30 years ago in the murder of their parents.

Gascón previously said he is looking into the matter and expects to make the decision by the end of October, but on Tuesday he told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he planned to do so by the end of the week.

Gascón plans to make his announcement at a news conference at 1:30 p.m. PT in Los Angeles, his office said.

A judge will ultimately decide the brothers’ case. The district attorney has said a hearing could be scheduled in late November, but no hearing is currently scheduled for the court.

The hearing stems from a defense petition citing what attorneys for the Menendez brothers call new evidence, as well as a recent California resentencing law that allows the court to consider sentences in similar cases. The judge can also assess whether the suspects have been victims of psychological or physical abuse, whether they have been rehabilitated and whether they pose a danger to society.

The reexamination of the case comes more than 35 years after the fatal shooting of Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home. Their sons, Lyle and Erik, who were 21 and 18 at the time, were arrested less than a year later in 1990 on charges of first-degree murder.

During their high-profile trials decades ago — one of the first televised cases — the brothers did not deny killing their parents, but argued that they should not be convicted because they acted in self-defense after a lifetime of had suffered abuse from their father. .

An initial trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on the charges. In their second trial, much of the defense evidence about sexual abuse was excluded. The brothers were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.

Last year, attorneys for the Menendez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction and sentence in light of new evidence, including an affidavit from former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló, who alleged that Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him in prison. 1980s. The attorneys also said a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin months before the murders references the abuse he suffered.

The defense is asking the court to either vacate the brothers’ conviction and sentence or allow discovery and an evidentiary hearing at which they can present evidence, the petition said.

The brothers’ story has gained new interest following the September release of the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Netflix also released a documentary on the Menendez case this month, in which both men discuss what led to the murders.

Gascón, who is campaigning for re-election on a platform that includes sentencing reform, told CNN this month that times have changed when it comes to how the public and the courts treat victims of sexual abuse.

“There’s no question that a jury today would probably look at this case very differently than a jury would 35 years ago,” he said.

Last week, the brothers’ relatives passionately called for their release.

Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, said the brothers’ actions were “the desperate response of two boys trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty.”

“They were just children. Children who could have been protected and instead were abused in the most horrific ways,” she said.