Despite his uncertain news conference this month, the Los Angeles County district attorney may have already decided the fate and freedom of the long-incarcerated Menendez brothers.

Amid a tough re-election campaign that has District Attorney George Gascón trailing by double digits, the prosecutor has expressed his strongest opinion yet on the siblings' murder case. It's a perspective that could be music to the ears of members of the Menendez family who are gathering in the City of Angels today to advocate for the early release of Lyle and Erik Menendez.

The brothers were the subject of a media frenzy at the time and were convicted of first-degree murder in a second trial in 1996 for the 1989 shooting death of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion. After going on an ostentatious spending spree before their arrest, Lyle, now 56, and Erik, 53, were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, I don't think they deserve to stay in prison until they die,” Gascón remarkably told ABC News Nightline co-anchor Juju Chang in an interview filmed on October 10 . The interview will debut on October 17th on the website special IMPACT x Nightline: Menendez Brothers: Monster or Victim?Streaming on Hulu.

On October 3, he stated that his divided office believes that it has “a moral and ethical obligation to review what is presented to us and decide based on the resentencing whether they deserve to be resentenced.” even if they clearly were “murderers,” Gascón's recent statement to ABC appears to push the matter well beyond the review phase that prosecutors maintained earlier this month.

“He points to the totality of the evidence his office has reviewed.” Nightline's Chang told Deadline this morning about her reaction to Gascón's much more decisive stance. “He also added that there are deep disagreements within the DA's office regarding this case and that he does not take this decision lightly,” she noted.

A hearing on the Menendez brothers' case is scheduled for November 29 in downtown LA. Any “final” decision on early release, a new trial or any other scenario rests with Gascón, as he made clear earlier this month. The L.A. District Attorney's Office did not respond to an inquiry from Deadline about Gascón's comments in the ABC News special. If so, this post will be updated.

Curiously, this weekend Gascón posted on social media an image of Erik Menendez's 1988 letter to a cousin in which he described alleged sexual abuse by his father. The handwritten note read in part: “I tried to avoid Dad. It still happens, Andy, but now it's worse for me. I can't explain it. He's so overweight I just can't stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen and it drives me crazy.”

The acting prosecutor deleted the post on Instagram shortly after it was published.

With new evidence of the apparent prevalence of sexual abuse that music manager Jose Menendez accused his sons and others, including boy band members, around two dozen family members will now be part of the case and its review in LA today in front of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center – the building where the trials of the two brothers took place.

Defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Cliff Gardner and Menendez attorney Rosie O'Donnell will join Anamaria Baralt (niece of Jose Menendez), Joan Andersen VanderMolen (sister of Kitty Menendez), and Karen VanderMolen (niece of Kitty Menendez and Brian). Andersen Jr. (nephew of Kitty Menendez. Additionally, Natascha Leonardo (niece of Kitty Menendez), Arnold VanderMolen (nephew of Kitty Menendez), Kathleen Simonton (niece of Kitty Menendez), Karen Copley (niece of Kitty Menendez), Diane Hernandez ( Grand-nephew of Kitty Menendez), Alicia Barbour (niece of Jose Menende), Erik VanderMolen (great-nephew of Kitty Menendez), Sarah Mallas (great-niece of Kitty Menendez), Alexander Hernandez (great-nephew of Kitty Menendez), Sylvia Bolock (niece of Jose). Menendez), Rebecca Frascone (family friend) and Tamara Goodell (niece of Kitty Menendez) will also be at DTLA this afternoon.

Other supporters of the brothers, such as Kim Kardashian, may also show up, but this has not been confirmed by organizers.

The extent of the sexual abuse the brother had long claimed he suffered was first brought to light in last year's three-part Peacock documentaries Menendez + Menudo: Betrayed Boys, When former Menudo member Roy Rosselló described his repeated rapes in the mid-1980s by the band's manager and then president of RCA Records, Jose Menendez. The letter the younger Menendez wrote to one of his cousins ​​about his father's rapes just months before his parents were murdered has also changed the perspective on the case, as have changing societal standards toward male victims of sexual assault.

The brothers' claims of sexual abuse, unsuccessfully claiming self-defense, were attacked at the 1996 trial by the then-Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, and the presiding judge allowed the jury to see very little evidence from Menendez of that abuse.

In light of his November election loss to former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Hochman, the media-savvy Gascón has drawn attention to Ryan Murphy's Netflix hit Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez had also formed around the case. In addition to this spotlight, the streamer released the true crime documentary The Menendez brothers on October 7th.

Of course, this all plays out both in the real world and on the small screen. In fact, it could prove to be a factor in the DA race one way or another. “The timing is incredibly suspicious,” Hochman said of Gascón’s sudden new interest in the Menendez case in an Oct. 8 televised debate between the two candidates. “You certainly wouldn't let me hold a press conference to tell you that I'm just thinking about it,” Gascón's rival added with no small amount of contempt in his voice.

The Menendez Brothers were reunited behind bars in 2018 and are currently housed at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego.