Menendez brothers have new shot at freedom after being sentenced to life in prison for brutal killing of their parents

The Menendez brothers have a new shot at freedom, after spending more than three decades behind bars for the brutal killing of their parents.

Erik and Joseph Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for the first degree murder of their parents Jose and Mary 'Kitty' Menendez inside their Beverly Hills home.

But they are now appealing for a sentence reduction under a new California law that gives district attorneys the authority to make resentencing recommendations.

They have the support of more than two dozen family members, who have signed a letter to a judge asking him to resentence them.

And they hope Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, a Democrat who has been a vocal critic of the death penalty and life without parole, may be on their side, according to Fox News. 

Lyle, a then-22-year-old Princeton student, and Erik, a then-19-year-old professional tennis player, walked into the den of their $5 million Beverly Hills mansion in August 1989 and shot Jose point blank in the back of the head.

They then turned the gun on their mother as she tried to run from the room. In total, they shot Jose five times and Kitty nine.

The brothers have never denied they killed their parents, but have argued they were driven to shoot down their father after years of sexual and physical abuse.

They have said they were afraid that their father would kill them after they warned him they would expose him for deviant behavior. 

But evidence that their sons had been subjected to years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their record executive father was ruled inadmissible, as prosecutors argued that they killed their parents because they wanted unfettered access to their $14 million estate.

Both bought Rolex watches, condominiums, sports cars, and expensive other items in the months after the murders.

The brothers ultimately had two trials - the first had a hung jury and was ultimately ruled a mistrial, but when they were retried together in 1996, they were found guilty.

They lost an appeal against their conviction in 2005 and are both currently serving out their sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County.

But their case was bolstered last year when Roy Rossello, a former singer in boy band Menudo claimed that there father had raped him at 13.

He said in a sworn affidavit that he went to Jose's home in fall 1983 or 1984, drank a 'glass of wine' then felt like he had 'no control' over his body.

Rossello also claims in a sworn affidavit that he was sexually abused by Jose on two other occasions - right before and after a performance at Radio City Music Hall. 

The Menendez's lawyers also filed a recently unearthed letter that Erik sent his cousin Andy Cano about eight months before the killings.

'I've been trying to avoid dad,' the hand-scrawled message read.

'It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now. I can't explain it. He is so overweight that I can't stand to see him.

'I never know when it's going to happen and it's driving me crazy. Every night, I stay up thinking he might to come in. I need to put it out of my mind.

'I know what you said before but I'm afraid. You just don't know dad like I do. He's crazy. He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.'

Their cousin testified that when Erik was 13, he came to him and told him that his father Jose was touching and 'massaging' his genitals, asking if that was normal.

Another one of their cousins' named Diane Vander Molen, also said that Lyle spoke about the abuse to her when he was eight years old, and that she went to his mother about his confession, but was told he was lying.

Arguments put forward by their defense team at their second trial described the pair as 'not harboring the mental state needed for first-degree murder and were therefore guilty of manslaughter'. 

Attorney Cliff Gardner now hopes to prove they should have been convicted of manslaughter - arguing in an appeal of their convictions that if they had, the brothers would have been out of prison by now.

'My hope in the case is that the judge will realize that this new evidence is indeed credible and persuasive, and he'll vacate the convictions,' Gardner told 48 Hours in March.