Erik and Lyle Menendez’s efforts to reduce their life-without-parole prison terms have been in limbo after the ouster earlier this month of Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor, who recommended a new sentence that could clear the way for the brothers’ release.

Erik and Lyle Menendez made a remote court appearance Monday in their bid to be released from prison. They were convicted of first-degree murder in 1997 for the 1989 killings of their parents.