Expert Believes Menendez Brothers Will Walk Free Within Weeks

On Thursday, Oct. 24, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended that Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences for the shotgun murders of their parents Jose and Kitty more than 30 years ago, be resentenced.

Gascón announced his recommendation more than a year after the brothers’ lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition asking to have their convictions reversed on the basis of new evidence, and after a review by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office’s Resentencing Unit.

According to Los Angeles-based defense attorney Neama Rahmani, an expert in criminal law in California, it will now be up to a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to determine if Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, will remain in prison, be granted a new trial or have their sentenced reduced.

After Gascón presents his petition for resentencing in a hearing that has yet to be scheduled, a final determination is expected within 30 days.

Rahmani believes that because prosecutors are asking for the brothers to be resentenced, it’s more likely “the judge will rubber stamp it.”

“Then it’s going to be a matter of days before they’re released,” he tells PEOPLE

However, if the judge rules against the petition, the brothers will still have a chance to appeal the denial to the California Courts of Appeal, the California Supreme Court as well as the federal courts.

Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they fatally shot their parents using 12-gauge shotguns in the den of their Beverly Hills, Calif., home on Aug. 20, 1989.

Jose, who was the chief operating officer of RCA Records, was hit multiple times, including point blank in the head. Kitty, 47, was shot 15 times, including once in the face.

The killings, according to the brothers, came after years of sexual abuse by Jose — abuse which they claimed was ignored by their mom, a former pageant queen.

However, prosecutors at the time said the two brothers’ motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the slayings.

In 1996, three years after their first trial ended in a deadlock, the siblings were convicted of the first-degree murders and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.