The Menendez brothers’ family is pushing for release while prosecutors review the 1989 case

Erik and Lyle Menendez’s extended family will call for the brothers’ release from prison during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles.

It comes as prosecutors review new evidence to determine whether they should serve life sentences for killing their parents.

Billed as “a powerful show of unity” by more than a dozen family members — including the brothers’ aunt — traveling across the country to Los Angeles, the news conference scheduled for Wednesday will come less than two weeks after attorney George Gascon. announced that his office would re-examine the brothers’ case.

Erik Menendez, now 53, and his 56-year-old brother, Lyle Menendez, are currently incarcerated in state prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago .

Lyle Menendez, who was 21 at the time, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted to fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez, in 1989, but said they feared their parents were about to to kill them. prevent the revelation of Erik’s long-term sexual molestation by the father.

The extended family’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, previously said they strongly support the brothers’ release.

Comedian Rosie O’Donnell also plans to join the family on Wednesday.

“She wishes nothing more than for them to be released,” Freedman said earlier this month about Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister and the brothers’ aunt.

Earlier this month, Mr. Gascon said there is no doubt the brothers committed the murders in 1989, but that his office will review new evidence and make a decision on whether a recidivism is justified in the notorious case that captivated national attracted attention.

The brothers’ lawyers said the family believed from the start that they should have been charged with manslaughter instead of murder.

Manslaughter was not an option for the jury during the second trial that ultimately led to the brothers’ murder conviction, defense attorney Mark Geragos said earlier.

The case has gained new attention in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

The new evidence includes a letter from Erik Menendez that his lawyers say confirms allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.

A hearing was scheduled for November 29.

Prosecutors argued at the time that there was no evidence of any abuse.

They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar business.

But the brothers have said they killed their parents in self-defense after suffering a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of them.

Their lawyers argue that because of society’s changing views on sexual abuse, the brothers may not have been convicted of first-degree murder today and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Jurors rejected a death sentence in 1996 in favor of life without parole.