Re-sentencing, which could make the brothers immediately eligible for parole, is just one of the pathways they are pursuing to walk free after their 1996 convictions for murder.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman's predecessor, who lost re-election, had backed re-sentencing, and advocates for the siblings had waited anxiously to see whether the new DA would do the same.
"We have laid out a pathway for the Menendez brothers to potentially get out of jail. It requires them to finally, after 30-plus years, fully acknowledge and completely accept responsibility for the entire breadth of the crimes and all the lies that they have told," Hochman told a press conference on Monday.
He said their repeated argument that they shot their parents in self-defence does not match the facts of the case that show their premeditated steps to plan the killings and make it look like a gang hit.
"They have lied to everyone for the last 30 years," Hochman said.
The case captivated the US in the 1990s because of the brothers' wealth and privilege as sons of a record company and entertainment industry executive.
Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time of the murders. They are now 57 and 54.
Hochman compared the Menendez case to that of Sirhan Sirhan, who shot and killed US Senator Robert F Kennedy in 1968.
He noted that, like the Menendez brothers, Sirhan had many letters of support and was determined to be a low-risk inmate.
However, Governor Gavin Newsom blocked his parole in 2022, saying Sirhan still posed an unreasonable threat to the public.
Hochman called it an "instructive case" because, like Sirhan, the Menendez brothers "fell short" of taking full responsibility for their crimes.
The county's top prosecutor said he would support re-sentencing in the future if the brothers "finally come clean with the court, with the public, with the DA's office, with their own family members and acknowledge all these lies".
He acknowledged the siblings had taken positive steps toward rehabilitation, including earning advanced degrees and repeatedly scoring low on inmate risk assessments.
A re-sentencing hearing initiated by a court has been scheduled for later in March.
The pair began their bid for freedom in recent years after new evidence of their father's sexual abuse emerged, and they have the support of most of their extended family.
Family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez slammed Hochman's assertion that the brothers did not meet the standards for re-sentencing.
"Let's be clear: Erik and Lyle are not the same young boys they were more than 30 years ago," the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition said in a statement on Monday.
"They have apologised for the horrific actions they took. They have apologised to us. And, they have demonstrated their atonement through actions that have helped improve countless lives. Yet, DA Hochman is effectively asking for them to publicly apologise to a checklist of actions they took in a state of shock and fear."
The siblings were sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted in 1996 of the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez.
with reuters
