Their first trial ended in a mistrial, when jurors couldn’t agree on their fate. After a second trial in the mid-1990s, in which some of their evidence about the alleged sexual abuse was excluded, jurors agreed with prosecutors that their motive was greed. 

Hochman replaced progressive former District Attorney George Gascón, who had pushed for a resentencing that could have freed the brothers under a new California law. 

But he lost in a landslide to Hochman, an independent, who said he would fully review the facts of each brother’s case before taking a stance.

The Menendez brothers, inset, and their former home.  (Fox News)

About two dozen of their relatives support freedom for the brothers. There has also been public support for their release after a series of documentaries explored their claims of child abuse at the hands of their father, a former RCA Records executive.

Milton Andersen, the men’s uncle, opposes any leniency for his nephews.

The brothers’ attorney says new evidence bolsters their case: Roy Rosello, a member of the 1980s boy band Menudo, came forward with his own allegations of abuse against Jose Menendez in 2023. And a letter, purportedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders, could support some of the latter’s trial testimony about Jose Menendez. Cano died in 2003, and the letter’s authenticity has been called into question in court filings.