Erik Menendez and Lyle Menendez's case is getting a new look.
One week after the brothers' lawyer Mark Geragos shared two new pieces of evidence regarding the 1989 murders of their parents José Menendez and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced he will formally recommend for them to be resentenced to add the possibility for parole.
"There are people in the office that strongly believe that the Menendez brothers should stay in prison the rest of their life, and they do not believe that they were molested," Gascón shared during the Oct. 24 press conference. "And there are people in the office that strongly believe that they should be released immediately, and that they were, in fact, molested."
While Gascón said he does not want their alleged abuse to "excuse" the murder of their parents, he said that "after a very careful review of all the arguments," he will submit a recommendation to the court on Oct. 25 for the Menendez brothers to be resentenced.
As for the evidence that may lead to their resentencing? A letter that Erik wrote to their cousin Andy Cando eight months before the 1989 murders, in which he described the allegations of abuse. The second is a declaration by former Menudo band member Roy Roselló, who alleged that he was assaulted by José, who worked with the band while he was COO of RCA Records.
Geragos noted that Cando had previously testified in the brothers' trial in 1993, but by the second in 1996, he was "demeaned as making this up, or was not true."
Gascón previously shared that he believes the evidence, which he said was brought to his office by their defense team last year, could have made a difference in their first trial if it had been introduced at the time. (Juries in the 1993 trial were deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. The brothers were ultimately convicted during their 1995 retrial.)
"I think it was up to the jury to decide the evidentiary value of that letter," he explained to Jake Tapper on CNN Oct. 22. "There is no question that they murdered their parents. However, we are reviewing two different possibilities of relief."
He explained that one possibility is the defense team's notion that there is evidence that could have changed the outcome of the trial if it had been presented. The other is the idea that Erik and Lyle have been "rehabilitated and they are safe to be reintegrated into the community."
As Gascón explained, "Either one of those vehicles has to be evaluated by a court and approved by a court."
The brothers' lawyer Geragos shared his hope for the resentencing during the family's press conference Oct. 16, especially due to the "movement" pushed forward by the "younger generation" regarding sexual abuse.
"I know that I've seen some of those videos of the first trial that was televised where the DA's office was taking the position that men could not be raped," the attorney, who did not represent the brothers during their trial, said. "They don't have the equipment. And you've seen all kinds of arguments along those lines."
"That is unfathomable in today's age to people who weren't alive back then," he added. "So I think that evolution has been, frankly, seismic."