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Police confirmed the pair knew each other.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has recommended Erik and Lyle Menendez be resentenced over the decades-old murder of their parents and be eligible for parole immediately.

"Resentencing is appropriate," he said and will make the recommendation to a judge.

Gascon says there was not total agreement within his office about what should happen, but that his decision was made after a "very careful review."

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A judge will ultimately decide on the brothers' case, and a hearing on the matter has been scheduled for November 26.

Gascon told a packed media conference on Thursday (Friday AEDT) if the judge adopts his recommendation, the pair could be eligible for parole immediately.

"I believe the brothers were subject to a tremendous about of dysfunction in their home and molestation", he said.

He also said there is no excuse for murder.

"I believe they have paid their debt to society," Gascon said.

The hearing stems from a defence petition citing what the Menendez brothers' lawyers argue is new evidence, as well as a recent California law on resentencing in which the court can take into consideration sentences in comparable cases.

The judge can also consider whether the defendants were victims of psychological or physical abuse, whether they are rehabilitated and whether they are a danger to society.

The reexamination of the case comes more than 35 years after the fatal shooting of Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home. Their sons, Lyle and Erik, who were 21 and 18 at the time, were arrested less than a year later, in 1990, and accused of first-degree murder.

At their high-profile trials decades ago – one of the first cases to be televised – the brothers did not deny killing their parents, but argued they should not be convicted because they acted in self-defence after enduring a lifetime of abuse by their father.

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A first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on the charges. In their second trial, much of the defense evidence about sexual abuse was excluded. The brothers were found guilty in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.

Last year, lawyers for the Menendez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction and sentence in light of new evidence, including a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló, who alleged Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him in the 1980s.

The lawyers also said a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin months before the killings alludes to the abuse he endured.

The defence is asking the court to either vacate the brothers' conviction and sentence, or permit discovery and an evidentiary hearing during which they can provide proof, the petition says.

The brothers' story has taken on new interest following the September release of the Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Netflix also released a documentary on the Menendez case this month featuring both men discussing what led to the killings.

Gascón, who is campaigning for reelection on a platform that includes sentencing reform, told CNN this month times have changed regarding how the public and the courts treat victims of sexual abuse.

"There is no question that a jury today would look at this case probably very differently than a jury did 35 years ago," he said.

Last week, the brothers' relatives made impassioned pleas for their release.

Joan Vander Molen, Kitty Menendez's sister, said the actions of the brothers were "the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father."

"They were just children. Children who could have been protected and were instead brutalized in the most horrific ways," she said.

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A new lawsuit alleges Vince McMahon knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a WWE employee in the 1980s.

The suit, filed on behalf of five former WWE "ring boys", alleges McMahon, his wife Linda McMahon, the WWE, and TKO Group Holdings, the league's parent company, knowingly allowed former ringside announcer Melvin Phillips jnr to use his position to sexually exploit children as young as 12 and 13 years old.

"Phillips lured and manipulated the young boys with promises of meeting famous wrestlers and attending the highly popular wrestling shows, experiences that were otherwise unattainable for these kids," the lawsuit alleges. "(The McMahons and the WWE) allowed Phillips and others to engage in, and foster, the WWE's rampant culture of sexual abuse."

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The WWE did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Jessica Rosenberg, an attorney for Vince McMahon, called the allegations false.

As early as 1992, New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick wrote about Phillips' alleged abuse of ring boys at the WWE.

"More than 30 years ago, the columnist Phil Mushnick tried to make headlines with these same false claims. Those allegations were never proven," Rosenberg said in a statement.

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"The negligence claims against Mr McMahon that were asserted today rely on these same absurd, defamatory and utterly meritless statements by Mr Mushnick. We will vigorously defend Mr McMahon and are confident the court will find that these claims are untrue and unfounded."

The suit, filed in Baltimore County, Maryland, on behalf of five John Does, alleges Phillips would recruit children to work as ring boys, helping him run errands to set up for WWE events. However, the job was a guise for sexually exploiting the boys, which Phillips would do even in front of wrestlers and executives in the locker area, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit alleges McMahon was aware of Phillips' abuse of the children. In fact, the lawsuit alleges McMahon admitted that he was aware as early as the 1980s that Phillips had a "peculiar and unnatural interest" in young boys.

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Phillips worked for the WWE in the 1970s, '80s and '90s as a "prominent" ringside announcer and crew chief. He died in 2012.

"It was common knowledge in the WWE — among the ring crew, wrestlers, and executives — that Phillips surrounded himself with a posse of underaged ring boys, including when he travelled across state lines and stayed in hotel rooms with the children," the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, the McMahons fired Phillips in 1988 after allegations about him sexually exploiting children continued to surface. Yet they rehired him six weeks later, and the lawsuits alleges he continued recruiting young men to sexually exploit.

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The lawsuit alleges the McMahons re-hired Phillips on the condition that he "steer clear from kids," yet he did not, and they knowingly let it happen. Phillips would often film his sexual abuse of the underage ring boys on video camera, the lawsuit alleges.

"After decades of suffering in silence from their childhood trauma, these survivors come forward now to hold (McMahon and the WWE) accountable for their conduct in allowing the systemic and pervasive abuse by Philips," the lawsuit alleges.

No one has ever been criminally charged.

Linda McMahon stepped down as CEO of WWE in 2009. She worked in former president Donald Trump's cabinet as the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration before stepping down in 2019.

This lawsuit is the latest in a series of misconduct allegations against McMahon and the WWE. In 2022, McMahon stepped down as CEO of WWE and the following year paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to Rita Chatterton, a former employee and referee, who accused McMahon of raping her in 1986. McMahon returned to WWE's board in January 2023.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported in 2022 McMahon had paid more than $US12 million to four women to cover up "allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity".

In January, McMahon stepped down as chairman of TKO, WWE's parent company, following allegations of sexual assault and trafficking. McMahon has denied the allegations.