More than 35 years after killing their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez have been recommended for re-sentencing by the Los Angeles County District Attorney.

The 1989 case shocked the nation, with claims during the trial that the brothers were abused by their father physically and sexually met with scepticism at the time, while their $US700,000 ($1 million) spending spree after the killings was suggested as an apparent lack of concern about what they had done.

Amongst the spending spree — which included new cars, new clothes, and new watches — was a purchase of courtside tickets to watch the NBA’s New York Knicks in action at Madison Square Garden.

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It was a decision that would immortalise the brothers in the basketball world in a grim coincidence only noticed decades later.

Crime writer Stephen Zerance, knowing the story about how the brothers had attended the basketball after the killings, went on a search in 2018 to see if he could find them in the background of action photos.

“My friend and I, who is also a true-crime head, knew that the brothers went on a lavish spending spree after they got an insurance payout from their parent’s death,” he told basketball magazine SLAM in January, 2019. 

“They bought a lot of things — tennis lessons, Rolexes, clothes, businesses, restaurants, cars. Then we noticed they bought courtside tickets to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

“When Getty Images didn’t have [any photos], it was like a light bulb. There are so many junk [basketball] cards on eBay.”

Hunting through the web for basketball cards from the 1990 season, Zerance stumbled upon one of point guard Mark Jackson.

In the background, to the left of his hip, were the brothers watching the game, pictured after they had killed their parents and before their eventual arrest.

It was a discovery that had Zerance wondering what else lurked in the background of photos at sporting events.

“I’m sure this will continue happening,” Zerance said. 

“There have to be so many things hiding in plain sight.”

Zerance purchased several of the cards for 10c each.

According to card trading website sportscardinvestor.com, a card can sell for as high as $US800 ($1,200) depending on the quality and the grading.

Often, true crime fans are the people buying the cards, rather than basketball fans.

According to The Washington Post, in late 2018 and early 2019, eBay took down listings of the card because of their policy against selling items “affiliated with murders or serial killers”.

The removal has since been revoked.

For his part, Jackson — who went on to become a broadcaster for ESPN and coach of the Golden State Warriors — said he was aware the brothers appeared in the back of the card.

“I always knew about it, unfortunately, because of the history behind it,” he said. 

“[I] heard about it whenever it picked up steam. People recognised what it was all about and who was in the background. I’m well aware of it.”

Zerance, who posted the card on Twitter in 2018, said the discovery didn’t go viral until later in the year, when an anonymous Reddit user posted it.

“I’m just glad it went viral, really. It’s a cool little tidbit,” he said.

The Menendez case is set to be heard by a Los Angeles judge, who will decide whether the brothers’ sentencing will be downgraded from life without parole. 

Monsters: Menéndez Brothers star Cooper Koch has revealed what his reaction was when producer Ryan Murphy presented the idea for episode five of the Netflix-topping series to him.

The latest season of the TV super-producer’s true crime series Monsters centres around Erik and Lyle Menéndez, who are both serving life sentences for killing their parents in the late 1980s.

At the time, the siblings claimed they were acting in self-defence after years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, while the prosecution argued that the Menéndez brothers’ motivations were financial.

Episode five – titled ‘The Hurt Man’ – features a 35-minute single shot of Erik (Cooper Koch) sharing the abuse he and his brother Lyle (portrayed by Nicholas Alexander Chavez) allegedly suffered at the hands of their father José and mother Kitty Menéndez prior to killing the couple.

“I cried,” Cooper told Deadline. “Ryan told me that I got the job, and then on the same day, he told me that I was gonna have that episode. And it was always planned to be that way, it was always one scene and one shot, and it didn’t really change. The script didn’t really change at all from the first time that I read it.”

He also shared that he and co-star Ari Graynor, who plays lawyer Leslie Abramson in the series only rehearsed the scene once prior to filming.

He said: “At the end everybody was very moved and everyone was crying, including myself and including Ari. (Director) Michael just looked to us and said,‘I don’t want to touch it. I just want to shoot it.’”