DA's Unusual Suit Seeks to Nix Inmate's Prison Term Commutation by Ex-Gov Schwarzenegger
In what the San Diego County district attorney is calling a first-of-a-kind lawsuit, her office is seeking to overturn a last-minute prison sentence commutation by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as he was about to leave office.
While conceding that the governor has the power to commute a sentence, the lawsuit filed by DA Bonnie Dumanis contends that Scharzenegger didn’t comply with a state statute known as Marsy’s Law that requires the governor to obtain prior input from the victim and prosecutor before doing so, reports the Associated Press.
Naming as defendants Gov. Jerry Brown; state prison officials; and the prisoner at issue, Esteban Nunez, the suit seeks a court order reinstating his original 16-year term in a college student’s stabbing death. Nunez is the son of a former speaker of the California Assembly.
As he was about to conclude his term of office, Schwarzenegger reduced the sentence for Nunez to seven years.
