Los Angeles' most notorious celebrity killers will be back in court Monday, but tickets will be hard to come by.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court will hold a public lottery to determine who will get which of the 16 seats reserved for the general public for the hearing – where brothers Eric and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents, could be freed.
A lottery will be held for open seats Monday morning, ahead of a hearing in which a judge may consider the brothers eligible for parole after three decades behind bars for fatally shooting their parents at the family's Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.
The brothers were serving life without parole for the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez after a highly publicized trial that captivated the nation and made Lyle and Eric household names.
The first-degree killers returned to the spotlight last year thanks to a Netflix docu-series about their case — and new evidence appears to support the brothers' claim that their father sexually abused them when they were children.
The evidence included a shocking handwritten letter from Eric to his cousin, sent years before the killings, describing the abuse.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended that the brothers' sentences be reduced to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole.
The brothers' lawyers are also asking the court to reduce their sentences from first-degree murder to manslaughter, a crime for which they have already served three times the maximum sentence.
The Menendez drama began in 1989, when Eric and Lyle — the sons of wealthy music impresario Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez — bought guns and fired several shots at both parents while they were watching television in their Hollywood home.
Before the brothers were charged with the gruesome double murder, they went on a spending spree with their $14 million inheritance. Their lavish purchases included luxury travel, a sports car, Rolex watches, two restaurants for Lyle, and a full-time tennis coach for Eric.
In the courtroom, the couple admitted to the murders, but claimed they committed them in self-defense due to a lifetime of abuse, including sexual abuse, by their father.
In October, Menendez's fans gathered outside the courthouse to support family members demanding the brothers' release.
The Menendez brothers' attorney, Mark Geragos, also sought clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom with the aim of releasing them by Thanksgiving.
