Two Los Angeles County prosecutors who advocated for the Menendez brothers’ launch from jail declare they had been retaliated in opposition to by new Los Angeles County District Legal professional Nathan Hochman.
Los Angeles County prosecutors Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford are looking for $5.25 million every in damages, in accordance with filings obtained by Fox Information Digital. They declare their careers and reputations have been affected by their division transfers on the finish of final 12 months.
The pair each labored within the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace below former DA George Gascón, who misplaced his re-election bid in November to Hochman, and publicly supported the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez. Final October, Theberge and Lunsford drafted the 57-page petition arguing that the brothers had been rehabilitated. In addition they appeared on the Oct. 24 press convention, when then-DA Gascón introduced he would ask a courtroom to resentence the brothers.
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Following the change on the prime, the pair say they skilled swift retaliation and had been promptly demoted.
“They had been demoted solely a pair weeks after the brand new administration got here into workplace,” Justin Shegerian, the legal professional representing Lunsford and Theberge, informed Folks journal. “So their demotion thereafter made them really feel like they had been being retaliated in opposition to for his or her advocating for the resentencing of the Menendez brothers. They’re nonetheless employed, however, in fact, their careers have been completely derailed.”
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Lunsford, the submitting mentioned, was “stripped of all supervisory obligations.” He was reassigned as of Dec. 14 as a calendar legal professional in Division T of the Norwalk Courthouse, “a place he had held years earlier with no alternatives for promotion or development,” the submitting mentioned.
Theberge was despatched again to the alternate public defender’s workplace, which the submitting described as “a transparent demotion.”
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The Los Angeles Occasions famous that it isn’t unusual for a shift within the workers when a brand new DA takes workplace, however Lunsford and Theberge claimed that their reassignments had been discriminatory.
Newly elected Los Angeles District Legal professional Nathan Hochman seems at Crypto.com Area in November. ( Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Occasions by way of Getty Pictures)
In a press release obtained by Selection, the Menendez household expressed their help for Theberge and Lunsford.
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“The choice to take away these devoted prosecutors from the case, nonetheless, underscored precisely what we feared, that political influences may overshadow justice,” the household mentioned. “D.A. Hochman campaigned on a promise to take away politics from prosecutorial selections and to fastidiously weigh the nuances and details of every case below his overview. We proceed to carry on to hope that he’ll honor this dedication as he considers his suggestion for Erik and Lyle’s resentencing.”
Tammi Menendez, Erik Menendez’ spouse, and Erik Menendez’ stepdaughter stroll close to the Van Nuys Courthouse West, on the day of a listening to within the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez on whether or not to rethink the first-degree conviction of the Menendez brothers in Los Angeles on Nov. 25, 2024. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole)
Hochman has but to say whether or not he’ll again the work of his predecessor – however mentioned he would overview the case intimately.
The notorious case dates again to 1989 when Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18, fatally shot their dad and mom, Jose and Kitty Menendez, of their Beverly Hills mansion.
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Throughout their preliminary trial, the protection claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors, nonetheless, argued that their motive was monetary acquire. A resentencing listening to for the Menendez brothers begins on March 20.
Los Angeles County District Legal professional Nathan Hochman talks in regards to the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez for the murders of their dad and mom many years in the past throughout a information convention in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Picture/Damian Dovarganes)
Shegerian alleged that Theberge and Lunsford skilled “politically motivated” retaliation.
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“Nancy and Brock are dedicated public servants and achieved attorneys who adopted the regulation — the regulation they believed required them to advocate for the resentencing of the Menendez brothers,” Shegerian informed Fox Information Digital. “The harassment and retaliation that adopted was politically motivated, unlawful, and devastating.”
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Fox Information Digital has reached out to the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace for remark.
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