Menendez brothers move closer to freedom for their parents' murders in Beverly Hills

As the notorious Menendez brothers in Los Angeles move ever closer to freedom despite serving life sentences without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, more than a dozen family members gathered outside the city's Hall of Justice on Wednesday to call on District Attorney George Gascón are pushing for a new sentence that could see them released before the end of the year.

Also scheduled to speak at the 4 p.m. rally were the brothers' defense lawyers, Mark Geragos and Cliff Gardner, as well as prominent Rosie O'Donnell, who has worked with older brother Lyle Menendez while he remains incarcerated.

After a mistrial, the brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A resentencing under California's new laws could be controversial since the district attorney in charge of her case is up for re-election in less than a month.

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An undated photo of the Menendez family as it appears on the screen during a panel discussion at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville on June 2. Brothers Lyle and Erik were convicted in the fatal shooting of their parents in 1989. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)

But the brothers' lawyers argue they should have been convicted of manslaughter and not murder. If they had, they would have already been released from prison.

They appealed earlier this year under a new law that gives district attorneys the power to make resentencing recommendations.

Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez, the sons of former RCA Records executive Jose Menendez and his wife Mary “Kitty” Menendez, have been in prison since the 1990s after killing their parents in a 1989 shotgun massacre at their Beverly Hills mansion had killed.

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Erik Menendez (center) and his brother Lyle (left) are pictured in Beverly Hills on August 12, 1991, after being accused of killing their parents Jose and Mary Louise Menendez. (Mike Nelson/AFP via Getty Images)

They accused her father of sexual abuse and fired so many shots that they had to return to the car to reload before firing the shot that killed her mother, who authorities said had tried to escape after being wounded.

The crime scene was so bloody that one of the crime scene investigators previously told Fox News Digital that a detective held an umbrella over his head to block the dripping blood and guts.

“It comes down to one thing,” retired Beverly Hills forensic scientist Clark Fogg said earlier this month. “The reason they are in prison is because they brutally killed their mother and father, not poisoned them, but shot them to the point where they were up to the ceiling.”

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The Menendez brothers – Erik (left) and Lyle – on the steps of their Beverly Hills home in November 1989. (Ronald L. Soble/Los Angeles Times)

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At the heart of their appeal is a letter revealed earlier this year from Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano, which was allegedly written months before the murders and contains evidence that their father was sexually abusing the sender when they killed him.

Cano testified in court that his cousin told him about the abuse when he was just 13 years old, but prosecutors downplayed the sexual abuse allegations, saying the brothers simply wanted to live a lavish lifestyle with their inheritance and pointed to everything they bought after the murders included a Porsche, Rolex watches and a restaurant.

Pictured is a letter purportedly written by Erik Menendez and sent to his cousin Andy Cano eight months before the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez. (Supreme Court of the State of California, Los Angeles County)

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Cano's mother found the letter in 2015. He died in 2003.

Gascón has signaled for months that he may be willing to reduce her sentence.

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If they are reconvicted without the aggravating factor, they could be immediately eligible for parole.

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And more than a dozen relatives of the brothers and their murdered parents also support their release.

An archive photo shows Lyle and Erik Menendez in prison jumpsuits during their murder trial in Los Angeles. (Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images)

The Menendez brothers are now both in their 50s.

They were 21 and 18 years old at the time of the murders.

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Fox News' Audrey Conklin, Mollie Markowitz and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.