The Menendez brothers may be closer to freedom.

A source familiar with the case says the Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascon will recommend resentencing Eric And Lyle Menendez, with the aim of releasing them. Gascón is said to be planning a news conference at a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday and has invited the brothers’ extended family to attend. If he actually makes the recommendation, a judge would preside over the hearing. Gascón did not immediately respond Vanity FairPlease comment.

The brothers spent 34 years in prison with no chance of parole, but this could be the beginning of the end of their high-profile case. Erik and Lyle were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, with shotguns in the den of their Beverly Hills home. At their trials, prosecutors said they acted out of greed. The defense argued that the brothers killed their parents because Jose sexually abused them and that they feared for their lives. The details of the murders were harrowing, as were the testimonies of the brothers’ alleged harassment.

According to the sources, Erik and Lyle’s extended family were invited by prosecutors to attend Wednesday’s announcement. Among those believed to be coming are the brothers’ aunt, who is over 100 years old, Joan Vander Molen; their children, Diane, Arnie, And Kathy Vander Molen; and her grandson Erik Vander Molen. Kitty and Joan’s brothers, Milton Andersen And Brian Andersen, They are not expected to be present. Unlike much of the family, they said they do not believe Erik and Lyle were mistreated.

The Menendez case first came back to life on TikTok during the pandemic when Court TV republished all episodes of the first trial. Public fascination peaked in September after the premiere of Ryan Murphyis the hit series on Netflix, Monsters: The Story of Erik and Lyle Menendez, and the case is once again a pop culture phenomenon. This time, serious Menendez supporters who believe Erik and Lyle should not have been charged with first-degree murder are posting on social media and signing petitions, while those who believe the brothers should serve their sentences are making their case in TikTok and Instagram comments threads. The story has inspired tabloid ephemera like T-shirts found on Etsy: one features a photo of the brothers and the words “Nightmare on Elm Street” in bright red letters – their former home is on Elm Drive in Beverly Hills – another reads “Dimes, dimes, dimes,” a reference to a montage on Murphy’s show in which Lyle desperately tries to make a phone call.

According to Penal Code 1172.1, the prosecutor can consider whether someone who has been convicted “suffered psychological trauma or physical abuse before sentencing, whether he or she received a harsh sentence compared to other cases, and whether he or she posed a threat would represent for society or not”. “The purpose of resentencing is to help us undo the crazy things that happened in the ’90s,” Menendez’s attorney said Mark Geragos. The first trial of Erik and Lyle, in which sexual abuse testimony was admitted, resulted in a vacancy in the jury (the brothers had separate jurors). Judge Stanley Weisberg would not allow the brothers’ lawyer Leslie Abramson, to present evidence in their second trial that they were abused.

In May 2023, Cliff Gardner, The brothers’ other lawyer and Geragos told the prosecutor that there was new evidence in the case: the most striking being a letter that Erik allegedly wrote to his cousin. Andy Cono, It states that Erik was still being raped by his father eight months before the murders, along with a statement from a former Menudo band member Roy Rosello He said he was drugged and raped by Jose when he was 13 or 14 years old. At a press conference on October 3, Gascón said that he had not yet decided: “We are examining the new information, but I think that is also the case.” It is important that we recognize that both men and women are victims sexual assault can occur. ”

When Gascón ran for district attorney in 2019, he promised to make the justice system fairer. He is currently in a tough re-election race Nathan Hochman. The vote will take place on November 5th.

It’s unlikely the family will find out what Gascón has to say before Wednesday, but Joan VanderMolen tells me that Erik and Lyle know the press conference is happening. VanderMolen says Erik called his cousin Kathy from prison late last week and urged her to find someone to represent her at work so she could be present for the prosecutor’s announcement.

Joan VanderMolen has stood by her nephews since their arrest in 1990 and is nervous about what Gascón will say. “What if they are not released?” she asked this reporter on Saturday. It seems unlikely that the prosecutor would ask a 92-year-old with constant back pain to travel over an hour to Los Angeles only to say that he believes her nephews should spend the rest of their lives in prison. When Joan heard this, she said “Thank you” and sighed shakily. “I really needed to hear that.”