Los Angeles County is seeking dismissal of two defamation claims that are part of a pair of lawsuits filed by two prosecutors who allege they were wrongfully demoted for their support of a resentencing of the Mendendez 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 allege a host of allegations, including whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, harassment, both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, violations of the state Labor Code as well as defamation and self-defamation.
The alleged defamation involves comments made by another prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, in which he gave his opinion of the Mendendez re-sentencing motion. The county lawyers maintain the two claims arise from protected speech.
In anti-SLAPP motions filed Wednesday with two different judges and scheduled for hearings on July 22 and 23, the county is seeking dismissal of the two defamation causes of action in both suits. 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.
“In response to what he apparently viewed as an ethically deficient and incomplete filing, Lewin — speaking exclusively in his personal capacity and not as a deputy district attorney — criticized the Menendez motion in a televised Fox & Friends appearance and multiple publicly accessible Facebook posts,” the county attorneys state in their court papers.
Theberge and Lunsford want to hold the county liable for Lewin’s comments, which “squarely addressed a matter of significant public concern but fell well outside the scope of Lewin’s official duties as a deputy district attorney,” the county lawyers further argue in their court papers.
“The (Lewin) statements were not authorized, sanctioned or ratified by the county in any manner,” according to the county attorneys’ pleadings.
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 the county attorneys maintain that because the defamation claims are unsupported by law, the self-defamation claims also fail.
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 current District Attorney Nathan 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.
After Lunsford spoke out in Theberge 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 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.
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.”
In their court papers, county attorneys maintain that Lewin does not refer directly to Theberge or Lunsford in his Facebook post in which he used the “quisling” term.
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.