LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. — The Los Angeles County District Attorney says he plans to decide whether to seek re-sentencing in Erik and Lyle Menendez's cases in the next few days.
The Menendez brothers were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. Their trial in 1996 was the second one after it ended in a hung jury.
During their trial, the brothers never denied killing their parents but said they committed the act out of self-defense after years of suffering sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
Defense attorneys at the trial said the judge for the second did not allow much of the evidence of the alleged sexual abuse to be presented to the court. The DA's office has been reexamining the case since last year.
After the discovery of a letter written by Erik months before the killings in which he wrote about the abuse, the brothers' attorneys asked the court to reconsider the conviction.
They argued that the brothers likely would have gotten a lesser sentence if the letter had been admitted at trial. They are currently serving life without the possibility of parole. A hearing is set for Nov 26.
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