Lawyers for Erik and Lyle Menendez urged a judge to block an effort from Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor to withdraw his office’s support for reducing the brothers’ sentences of life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun killings of their parents.

The reasons Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman presented for the withdrawal either are “patently meritless” or were considered and rejected by Hochman’s predecessor, George Gascón, the brothers’ lawyers argued in an 88-page filing.

Gascón, who was voted out of office in November, described the brothers as “exceptional” inmates and supported resentencing them to 50 years to life in prison, which would have made them eligible for parole immediately.

Last month, Hochman said he had withdrawn that recommendation because the brothers, now 54 and 57, had not fully acknowledged more than a dozen lies they told about the murders, including that they killed their parents in self-defense.

“In looking at whether the Menendez brothers have exhibited full insight and complete responsibility for their crimes, they have not,” Hochman said last month.

A judge will ultimately determine whether the brothers should be resentenced.

The brothers have said they fatally shot their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, after Lyle confronted his father about alleged sex abuse and José Menendez appeared to threaten him.

Prosecutors have described the murders as cold-blooded and financially motivated.

The brothers’ 1993 trial, which was televised and captured national attention, ended with a hung jury. They were convicted of first-degree murder in their second trial.

Many of the brothers’ relatives, including their mother’s sister, have spoken out in support of releasing them.

In the filing, the brothers’ attorneys attacked Hochman for underplaying the rehabilitation efforts they have undertaken in the Southern California prison where they are incarcerated, including educational and work-related achievements.

“From the day they were convicted, and as they matured in prison over the many years since trial, in both court filings and public interviews, they have both taken responsibility for the shooting and expressed deep remorse,” the filing says.

“From a rhetorical perspective, Erik and Lyle certainly understand the District Attorney’s continued focus on falsehoods they told in the aftermath of the crime and even during their 1993 and 1996 trials,” the filing says. “But case law makes clear that this conduct is of relatively little importance to the question of current dangerousness.”

The district attorney’s office did not immediately comment in response to the filing.

Resentencing is only one path the brothers have relied on in their effort to get out of prison.

In 2023, they filed a petition seeking to overturn their conviction that cites what their defense has described as new evidence that supports their claims of sexual abuse. They also filed a clemency request with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both efforts are ongoing.