LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has ordered Los Angeles prosecutors to explain why Erik and Lyle Menendez’s murder convictions should not be re-examined in light of new evidence supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father.

The July 7 order by LA County Superior Court Judge William Ryan was in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by the Menendez brothers in May 2023 seeking a review of their 1996 convictions for the killings of their parents based on new evidence.

The brothers were convicted of murdering their father, Jose Menendez — a powerful record executive — and their mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

Their first trials resulted in hung juries. At the second trial for both brothers, the judge excluded a substantial amount of evidence, including testimony from several family members who witnessed or heard about the abuse. The brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In May, a judge reduced their sentences to 50 years to life in response to a resentencing petition, making them eligible for parole. They will appear before the state parole board in August.