Menendez Brother's Chances of Being Released From Prison After New Evidence Surfaces, According to a Legal Defense Expert

After a top California law official recommended that the Menendez brothers be resentenced, a law expert is saying that there is a strong possibility that they could be released from prison "in a matter of days."

Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney and expert in criminal law, said that a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge is likely going to approve a resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers, as reported by PEOPLE.

"Then it's going to be a matter of days before they're released," Rahmani told the magazine.

In light of new evidence submissions in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended on Thursday that the brothers be resentenced, as reported by USA Today.

"I believe that they have paid their debt to society," Gascón told reporters.

Erik and Lyle Menendez, now 53 and 56, were sentenced to life in prison after shooting and killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in August 1989. The brothers claimed that years of sexual abuse by their father and denial of the abuse by their mother was the reason for the killings, but prosecutors at the time argued it was for money, as their father was a wealthy music executive.

The new evidence submitted appears to include a 1988 letter from Erik Menendez to a relative that allegedly details the abuse, and allegations from a member of a Puerto Rican boy band that Jose Menendez drugged and raped him when he was underage, as reported by the BBC.

The brothers, 18 and 21 at the time, were found guilty by a jury in 1996. Since the brothers were under the age of 26 when they were found guilty, they could be eligible for parole immediately under California law if the judge agrees to a resentencing, as reported by USA Today.