ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It was 1996 when a California jury convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez of first-degree murder. They killed their parents, Jose and Kitty, in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.

Ever since, they’ve served life sentences, and their case never really lost that national attention.

Especially after new evidence came up corroborating the brothers’ long-standing claims they were sexually abused by their father for years.

“Things have change dramatically over the decades and they have many more supporters these days who do believe them,” said Hazel Thornton, a juror on Erik Menendez’s first trial.

She wrote a book about her experience and has been waiting for the day that came earlier this week.

“I call it a Menendez miracle and of course it would have been better had they been resentenced to manslaughter and time served, but I’ll take what we can get,” she said.

A judge resentenced the brothers to life with the possibility of parole. They could go before the parole board next month.

“It’s disappointing that they no longer have the clemency option but it’s encouraging that they don’t have to wait six months like many prisoners do for a parole hearing date,” Thornton said.

She says it’s the light at the end of a tunnel for not just the brothers but their supporters.

“For now, they didn’t even have a hope of being paroled and that’s what makes their rehabilitation so remarkable. All of the things that they have been doing in prison to help other inmates and improve themselves have been done without the hope of ever being paroled,” she said.