Stars of Netflix's Menendez brothers series react to resentencing news

Lyle (r.) and Erik Menendez could go free as the Los Angeles district attorney calls for the brothers to be resentenced.  © VINCE BUCCI / AFP

This double murder has been making international headlines for more than thirty years.

On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik killed their wealthy parents in their home in Beverly Hills, provided themselves with an alibi, and eventually called the police to report the murders.

But in the months that followed, they spent so much money that they were targeted by investigators. They were arrested in 1990 and convicted in 1996 after a second trial.

But their time in prison could soon be over.

George Gascón, the district attorney of Los Angeles, has recommended to a judge that the siblings be re-sentenced.

Defense attorneys had stated last year that they had new evidence corroborating the brothers' claims that they were abused by their father.

Netflix's new true crime series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story also focuses on the pair's relationship with their father, saying in the trial scenes – as in the real trials in the 1990s – that the two killed their parents not for the inheritance but out of fear of a life of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

Cooper Koch (l.) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez star as Erik and Lyle Menendez, respectively, in the hit Netflix series.  © Roy Rochlin / Getty Images via AFP

Many viewers sympathized with Lyle and Erik – played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, respectively – and saw the brothers not only as perpetrators but also as victims.

Gascón nevertheless emphasized to CNN, "I will never excuse murder, and those were brutal, premeditated murders."

"They were appropriately sentenced at the time when they were tried. They got life without the possibility of parole," he continued.

"I just think that given the current state of the law and given our assessment of their behavior in prison, they deserve the opportunity to be re-evaluated and perhaps reintegrated into the community."

A life sentence currently means 50 years in prison, and the brothers were 21 and 18 years old at the time of the double murder – under California law, they would therefore be eligible for juvenile parole.

According to CNN, the decision could be made in 30 to 45 days.

"I am overwhelmed with gratitude and hope for the progress we've seen today," actor Cooper Koch said in a statement, per Deadline.