The Menendez brothers are set to bid for shorter sentences and a shot at freedom on Tuesday and Wednesday in a US legal case that is stirring up controversy and reigniting debate about alleged sexual abuse.
The re-sentencing hearing for brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole 35 years ago for killing their parents, got underway after a judge denied the prosecution's motion to withdraw a petition on Friday.
The brothers, who have been waiting for their re-sentencing since last November, argued that they committed the crimes in self-defence after years of abuse by their father.
Their bid for freedom
The re-sentencing will focus on the brothers' prison records and whether they have been rehabilitated or still pose a danger to the people of California.
The court is expected to hear from a number of family members, prison staff and guards, who will testify on behalf of the brothers in the upcoming hearing.
The position of the defence is that the brothers are ready to be released.
On Friday, lawyers for the brothers, who appeared by video link from prison in San Diego, withdrew a motion to have Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman removed from the case.
In March, Mr Hochman said the brothers had repeatedly lied about why they killed their parents and they "fell short" of taking full responsibility for their crimes.
Mr Hochman's predecessor as district attorney, George Gascon, had favoured releasing the brothers based on evidence that recently came to light suggesting they may have been abused by their parents.
The 1989 murder case
The Menendez brothers were convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder for shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989.
The case captivated the US in the 1990s because of the brothers' wealth and privilege. Their father was a record company and entertainment industry executive.
Lyle, now 57, was 21 at the time of the murders, and Erik, now 54, was 18.
A recent Netflix documentary series raised new evidence to support their claims they were sexually abused by their parents, leading to Mr Gascon advocating for them to be re-sentenced on a lesser crime and released.
The brothers at first denied involvement in the murders and attempted to make the shooting look like an organised crime hit but later admitted killing their parents, claiming self-defence.
A jury convicted them of first-degree murder after the second of two highly publicised trials, the first of which ended in a hung jury.
'Complete miscarriage of justice'
Journalist and author Robert Rand, who has been following the brothers' case for the past three decades, believes the second Menedez trial was "a complete miscarriage of justice".
"The jury in the second trial was not allowed to hear most of the evidence of abuse that the jurors in the first trial had heard," he told ABC News Channel.
Rand said when he interviewed the jurors for the first time, all the women voted for manslaughter — which is a lesser form of murder — while all the men voted for murder.
"The men all told me a father would never do that to his son," he said.
In the 90s, the mainstream media in the US was calling the brothers "greedy rich kids", Rand said.
"There was no social media so, once the media set the logline for your case, it was hard to fight back."
'People are now willing to accept that these things do go on'
Rand, who has written a book about the brothers and considers himself close friends with them, said society had evolved a great deal since they first went on trial.
"People are now willing to accept that these things do go on within families," he said.
The brothers have supporters all over the world, with more than half of their supporters living outside of the US, Rand said.
"They have spent more than half of their lives incarcerated.
"When I met them, they were 18 and 21. They were shy, quiet, college-age guys and now they are middle-aged men."
Rand said he believed it was time to review the case and have the brothers sent home to their family.
