The family of Lyle and Erik Menendez urged a judge Tuesday to let them out of prison, more than three decades after the brothers shot their parents to death.

Erik and Lyle Menendez, wearing blue prison uniforms, listened as relatives broke down in tears, begging the judge to set them free during the first day of a two-day hearing.

The first witness, Erik and Lyle Menendez's cousin Anamaria Baralt, was adamant that the brothers had earned their chance at freedom.

Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are serving life sentences for the murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home 35 years ago, have appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom via video for a key hearing in their bid to win release from prison.