A judge will now have the final say on whether the recommendation leads to the Menendez brother’s release from prison after more than 30 years.
Eric Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, are currently serving life sentences without parole in a California prison.
The couple were not notified of Mr. Gascon’s decision in advance and watched the prosecutor’s press conference live.
“I think the brothers have suffered tremendous dysfunction in their own house and they have been harassing,” Mr. Gascon said.
He added that while there was no justification for the killing, “I believe they have paid their debt to society.”
During their criminal trials in the 1990s, prosecutors painted the brothers as rich kids who methodically planned the murders to gain access to their parents’ wealth.
But their lawyers argued that the brothers were victims of years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and were acting only in self-defense.
The announcement by Mr. Gascon, who faces an uphill battle for re-election, follows new evidence in the sexual assault case.
One of the new pieces of evidence was a letter from Eric Menendez to another family member, which appears to be dated 1988 and details alleged abuse by his father, Jose.
Another testimony came from an underage member of the 1980s Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. A member of the group claimed that Jose Menendez, then an executive at the RCA record company, drugged him and raped him during a visit to Menendez’s home.
The case began on August 20, 1989, when the brothers, then 18 and 21, called police to report finding their parents’ bodies after returning home.
