Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday he will seek convictions of Lyle and Erik Menendez in the murders of their parents, paving the way for their possible release from prison after decades.

Gascón filed a motion later Thursday asking that they be resentenced to 50 years to life. Currently, the brothers have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A Supreme Court judge will make the final decision.

Gascón said that because the men were younger than 26 when they killed their parents, they would immediately be eligible for parole if a judge followed his sentencing recommendation.

A date for the hearing had not yet been set as of Thursday evening.

The brothers fatally shot their parents, entertainment company executives José Menendez and Kitty Menendez, with shotguns in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The brothers were 21 and 18 years old at the time.

Lawyers for the brothers argued that they had been sexually abused by their father, and after two trials they were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Gascón said his recommendation Thursday for sentencing was not universally supported.

“There are people in the office who feel strongly that the Menendez brothers should spend the rest of their lives in prison, and they don’t believe they were abused,” Gascón said.

“And there are people in the office who feel strongly that they should be released immediately and that they have in fact been abused.”

He added: “I believe they have paid their debt to society.”

The public prosecutor’s announcement comes three weeks after Gascón said his office was reviewing the case and would consider whether they should be resentenced.

Gascón, who is seeking re-election next month, said at the time that “we have a moral and ethical obligation to review what has been presented to us.”

The evidence provided to Gascón’s office included a photocopy of a letter from one of the brothers to another family member alleging sexual abuse, Gascón said.

Defense attorneys also presented evidence that one of the members of the Menudo boy band claimed he was sexually abused by José Menendez, Gascón said.

Roy Rosselló, a member of the pop group from 1983 to 1986, said in the 2023 Peacock series “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” that he was raped by José Menendez, who was then an executive at RCA.

Gascón argued in the sentencing motion that the Menendez brothers no longer pose a threat to public safety.

“When Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996, their sentences were consistent with what was considered best public safety practices,” Gascón wrote. “However, what are considered best practices for public safety have evolved.”

Anamaria Baralt, José Menendez’s niece, praised Gascón’s decision, telling a news conference that the family is “united in hope and gratitude.”

“Together we can ensure Erik and Lyle get the justice they deserve and can finally go home,” she said.

The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, celebrated after the district attorney’s recommendation was announced.

“Today is a monumental, monumental victory on that path toward their freedom,” he said.

The brothers alleged sexual abuse by their father during their first trial. That trial resulted in a mistrial after the juries deadlocked.

During their second trial, allegations of abuse in court were limited. The brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lyle Menendez is now 56 and Erik Menendez is 53.

They filed petitions on both habeas grounds and seeking resentencing. A habeas petition states that if certain evidence had been presented at trial, the outcome could have been different.

California law also allows a prosecutor to assess whether a person has been rehabilitated and then ask a court to determine whether the person should be resentenced, Gascón said.

Prosecutors had accused the brothers of killing their parents to inherit a fortune.

Milton Andersen, Kitty Menendez’s brother, opposes any early release, his lawyer said in a letter to Gascón.

“Mr. Andersen opposes any form of conviction and objects to any concession of the habeas claims,” wrote his attorney, Kathy Cady.

“Erik and Lyle Menendez’s motive was pure greed,” Cady wrote in the letter, which was sent on October 14.

The District Attorney’s Resentencing Unit handled the recommendation for the Menendez case. It was launched in April 2021 by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and addressed excessive incarceration.

The team, along with the district attorney’s Murder Resentencing Unit, has reviewed or is actively reviewing 705 cases, resulting in 332 new sentences, the district attorney’s office said.

Last week, about two dozen of Menendez’s family members gathered outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles and rallied in support of the brothers’ release from prison.

Family members launched a petition for their freedom, arguing that justice has been served because they have spent more than 35 years behind bars.

The brothers have become victims of society and a legal system that decades ago failed to understand and show compassion in cases of boys and young men being sexually abused, family members said.

“Their continued confinement serves no facilitating purpose. It is time to recognize the injustice they have suffered and give them the second chance they deserve,” said Baralt, José Menendez’s niece. “If Lyle and Eric’s case were tried today, with the knowledge we now have about abuse and PTSD, I have no doubt that their sentencing would have been very different.”

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, said she struggled to come to terms with the killings, but that as more and more information came to light about the brothers’ allegations of abuse at the hands of their father, their actions were a “desperate response ” were. ‘ of two boys trying to survive his cruelty.

“They were just children. Children who could have been protected and instead were abused in the most horrific ways,” she said. “Lyle and Eric have already paid a high price. … They’ve grown, they’ve changed and they’ve become better men, despite everything they’ve been through. It is time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past.”