LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A high-profile prosecutor is seeking to be removed as a defendant from a pair of lawsuits filed by two prosecutors who allege they were wrongfully demoted for their support for resentencing of the Menendez brothers while George Gascón was district attorney.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuits were filed April 7 by Deputy District Attorneys Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford. The plaintiffs' allegations include whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, harassment, both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Labor Code, as well as defamation and self-defamation.

The defendants are Los Angeles County, current District Attorney Nathan Hochman and the prosecutor who has filed the dismissal motion, John Lewin.

Lewin was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Robert Durst, a New York real estate heir who was serving life in prison without parole when he died in January 2022 at age 78 of natural causes. Durst was convicted in September 2021 of first-degree murder for the December 2000 shooting death of Susan Berman.

The alleged defamation involves comments made by Lewin, in which he gave his opinion of the Menendez re-sentencing motion. Lawyers for Lewin and the county, which has filed its own anti-SLAPP motion, contend the two claims arise from protected speech.

In an anti-SLAPP motion and a separate dismissal motion filed Monday with Judge Rupert Byrdsong, Lewin is seeking to have all of Theberge's allegations against him dismissed. The state's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.

Lewin's attorney filed a separate dismissal motion without an anti- SLAPP action regarding the Lunsford case.

"The statements at issue are classic examples of nonactionable opinion or true factual assertions," Lewin's attorneys state in their court papers. "Courts consistently hold that subjective judgments about work quality, competence, honesty or motives, especially in the context of public debate, are not actionable as defamation."

The self-defamation claims pertain to the plaintiffs' assertions that they have been forced to explain and address Lewin's statements to colleagues and prospective employers, causing further reputational and emotional harm. But Lewin's attorneys maintain that because the defamation claims are unsupported by law, the self-defamation claims also fail.

Lewin's lawyers also contend that the plaintiffs' emotional distress claims fail because there is no evidence of "extreme or outrageous conduct" on Lewin's part.

Theberge believed that resentencing the Menendezes was required by law and that it would be unlawful to not 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 her suit.

Theberge, a unit leader, was transferred out of the District Attorney's Office entirely and reassigned to the Alternate Public Defender's Office, which her 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 his suit.

After Lunsford spoke out and reaffirmed the legality and appropriateness of the resentencing motion, Lewin called both plaintiffs a "quisling," a term comparing someone to a Nazi collaborator, according to Lunsford's 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, both suits contend.

In a sworn declaration, Lewin explained his use of the term "quisling."

"In two of my posts, I used the term quisling to describe my perception that some veteran prosecutors within the (District Attorney's Office) had adopted perspectives and conduct which I believed were more aligned with the role of a defense attorney rather than a prosecutor," Lewin said. "I thought it simply referred to someone who was considered a traitor. I later learned the term had a historical derivation that I had been unaware of at the time I made the two posts."

Hochman opposed the resentencing of the Menendez brothers, who until recently were serving life sentences without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, because of what he said was their lack of accountability and repeated lies about the events. However, in May the siblings were resentenced by a Van Nuys Superior Court judge to 50 years to life in prison, making them eligible for parole.

Gary and Shannon

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