Decision in Menendez brothers case expected this week
LOS ANGELES (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - The Los Angeles County District Attorney says he plans to make a decision in the next few days on whether to seek re-sentencing in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez.
The Menendez brothers were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. Their 1996 trial was the second one after the first ended in a hung jury.
They never denied killing their parents, but say they acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father.
Defense attorneys said the judge in the second trial didn't allow much of the evidence of abuse to be presented.
The DA's office has been reexamining the case since last year.
The brothers' attorneys asked the court to reconsider the conviction in light of a newly discovered letter written by Erik months before the killings, in which he wrote about the abuse.
They argue that if the letter had been admitted at trial, the brothers likely would have gotten a lesser sentence.
They are serving life without the possibility of parole. A hearing is set for November 26.