Tonight, Dateline NBC will air *** two hour special on the latest developments in the high profile murder trial of Lyle and Eric Menendez. It's *** case that has the interest of people across the country and around the world. And joining us now is Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison. So Keith, you and the Dateline team have been on this case since it broke back in 1989. I remember some of your first reports. The case was quiet for *** while and then everything changed very fast too. Did that surprise you how, how quickly this got back in the spotlight? Well, it, it did, it, it has resurfaced several times throughout the years. Um back in 89 it was *** huge story, of course. And then during their trials, um it was uh it was akin to OJ, it was very similar but it, it, it did go quiet for quite *** long time until um several times in the teens. And then this time it's gone wide, uh courtesy of the Netflix um scripted series Monsters, uh which doesn't purport to be uh accurate necessarily, but it's ***, it's *** telling of the story and um, that's produced of this worldwide, um, demand. I guess you could say that the brothers should be released and should be able to go home. What, what, what were your thoughts initially back in 1989 and everything that happened in their conviction, what were your thoughts on it? Well, I, you know, I always try not to form an opinion. Um, except to say that it was ***, it was *** very dramatic story. The crime itself was, um, phenomenally, uh, brutal. Uh It, it was an ugly scene and what was done was an attempt to make it look like *** mafia hit. Um, and for *** long time, encouraged by the two brothers, uh several people who were thought to possibly have ties with the mob were investigated. Um, before the police finally realized that they were the two people they should be looking at were the brothers Menendez. And that was months and months and months after the, after the murder. Um, when they were finally arrested, the, the salient bit of this was what didn't come out until the trial. Uh when the tapes of the brothers, uh conversations with their psychiatrist, which they had assumed of course, would never be made public, uh were, were part of the trial and they described what they did and they described the amount of planning that went into it and, you know, such things as we, we had to have *** conversation about whether or not, we should kill our mother as well as our father. Um So the idea that this was *** kind of *** sudden explosion of fear or fear and anger or whatever because of *** life of sexual abuse certainly didn't come out in the conversations with the psychiatrist. In fact, sexual abuse was never mentioned, even though, uh you know, those were all very private conversations. So the prosecutor in the original trial, who was an ex prosecutor of sex crimes, especially against Children, uh never believed that their claims. Um which is why she fought so hard to get the convictions that she eventually got uh of first degree murder and life without parole. And she is still fighting that, that same cause all 35 years later. Well, see, and that's very interesting and Keith, that's why your perspective is so interesting because you were there from the beginning. So your episode airing tonight, it's really *** mix of the, the old and the newer interviews, including your interview with Lyle back in, what was that 2017. So can, can you tell us about that conversation? Any new developments in the case? Were there any portions of that conversation that struck you differently? Especially now? Well, you know, when we had the conversation and I did this story that time, I didn't dig quite so deeply into the material from the orig the original case. Uh And this time I was just, I was struck by some of the things that we recorded back then. It was *** good conversation. You know, he's *** very, um, engaging and bright man and, um, he has made *** real life for himself in prison. He's been an exemplary prisoner. They both have, they both become, uh, you know, happily married men and they've, they've, they've lived really good lives as well as you could live in ***, in *** prison cell, um, for 35 years now. But during that conversation back in 2017, he said it didn't occur to me that it didn't, didn't ring *** bell that I asked him when they decided to kill their parents. Um And Lyle said, well, it wasn't really *** decision. It was just suddenly we were overcome and we did it. But uh the tapes with the psychiatrist reveal that they went through quite *** lot of planning over *** period of days. Well, see, that's why it's so important to hear. You know, your, your perspective on all of this, I know as an unbiased journalist, but, you know, you were there from the beginning so you could provide *** very unique perspective to all of this. You also spoke with the person responsible for really thrusting this case back back into the news. That would be the D *** George Gascon who also just lost re election. Can you tell us about your conversation and any insights that were possibly shared with him? Well, George Gascon of course, was, is *** progressive prosecutor and D ***. Uh and there's been, you know, kind of *** reversal of those attitudes in the electorate. And so he was defeated. That was no great surprise when he announced that he was going to recommend their release. It was just before the election and he was accused of doing it for the purposes of trying to become re-elected even though he was behind in the polls if that's what it was. And I, you know, I'm not in *** position to say, but if that's what it was, it did not succeed. And the new person taking over is someone who has the support of, of, of groups of prosecutors in the DAS office, uh, who were opposed to Gascon and plan to argue against the uh release of the brothers. And they're much more in the camp of, of the new D *** Mr Hoffman. We don't know exactly what he's going to do except to say that he has indicated he wants to talk to everybody involved in the case, review all the evidence. Um, and, and make *** decision once he feels he is comfortable enough to do so, the long and short of it is that, um, at the hearing coming up in December 11th, which is when there were expectations the judge would announce the release of the brothers. I don't think that's gonna happen. Um, whether the governor decides that they should have clemency anytime soon is up to the governor, of course, but things have changed on the ground now, things have definitely changed. I know everyone is, is waiting to see what's going to happen. The ultimate conclusion of this story. Um, do you think they will eventually get out? I would think so. But, I don't know, I mean, it's *** fraught story. Um, the original prosecutor doesn't think that there should be and, and, and when I pushed her on that *** little bit, she said, uh, you know, if you, they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, if you don't want them to be in prison for the rest of their lives and change the law, but don't just decide to let them go. On the other hand, you know, in most fir first world countries, when *** person has been in prison for that length of time, when they committed their crime at the tender age of these two fellows were 19 and 21. And when they've been exemplary citizens in prison, uh, where they seem to have redeemed themselves in *** number of different ways, you know, no matter what they did, they would tend to be released because it wouldn't be seen as *** danger to society and they could have the possibility of some useful life. Um, will that happen? It might, yeah, probably will. I don't know. All right, Keith Morrison, we'll be watching. Thank you so much for your time. The Menendez Brothers Chance at Freedom Airs tonight at nine right here on KCR *** three and then be sure to stick around after, for the KCR *** three news at 11.