Top LA prosecutor backs Menendez brothers being released on parole

Two brothers who were convicted of murdering their parents in a case that shook America more than three decades ago are a step closer to being released on parole.

A Los Angeles County district attorney has recommended that Erik and Lyle Menendez be resentenced by a judge because new evidence merited a review.

The 1989 murders of Kitty and Jose Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion have gripped the US for years, recently inspiring a popular Netflix series.

For the brothers to gain their freedom, a judge would have to agree with the recommendation and then a parole board approve their release.

Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, are currently serving life in prison without possibility of parole in California.

The case centred on their motive in the murders, in which their parents were shot 13 times as they watched television.

"I believe the brothers were subject to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in their home and molestation," said George Gascón, LA County's top prosecutor, on Thursday.

He added that, while there is no excuse for murder, "I believe they have paid their debt to society".

During their criminal trials in the 1990s, prosecutors painted the brothers as rich kids who methodically planned the murders to gain access to their parents' fortune.

But their defence attorneys argued the brothers were victims of years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and only acted out of self-defence.