Prosecutors who supported Menendez brothers re-sentencing sue DA Hochman
Prosecutors who supported Menendez brothers re-sentencing sue DA Hochman
Two Los Angeles County prosecutors sued District Attorney Nathan Hochman Monday, alleging they were wrongfully demoted for their support of a re-sentencing of the Mendendez brothers while the office was under George Gascón.
Deputy district attorneys Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford each filed their own complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court. They allege a host of allegations, including whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, harassment, defamation, both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state labor code.
A representative of the District Attorney’s Office said Monday that her office does not comment on pending litigation.
Hochman has opposed the re-sentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, citing what he says is their lack of accountability and repeated lies about the events.
After the Menendez re-sentencing motion was filed, Gascón was supportive. Theberge believed that re-sentencing the Menendezes was required by law and that it would be unlawful not to bring such a motion, the suit states.
However, after Gascón lost in November and Hochman took office, he removed both Theberge and Lunsford from the case, and both were demoted almost immediately, according to the suit.
Theberge, a unit leader, was transferred out of the District Attorneys Office entirely and reassigned to the Alternate Public Defender’s Office, which the complaint describes as a “clear punitive move.”
Lunsford, a 25-year veteran, was stripped of his supervisory duties and reassigned to a low-level calendar deputy position in a remote branch court, according to the suit.
In addition, Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, a co-defendant in the case, accused Theberge of dishonesty and breaching her duty of candor to the court, which the suit calls a “baseless and slanderous attack on her integrity.”
After Lunsford spoke out in Theberge’s defense and reaffirmed the legality and appropriateness of the re-sentencing motion, a senior official publicly ridiculed both plaintiffs, calling them a “quisling,” a term comparing someone to a Nazi collaborator, according to the suit.
Theberge was treated even worse than Lunsford, who is male, younger and was allowed to remain a member of the District Attorney’s Office, the suit states.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as punitive damages against the individual defendants.
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