High-profile Los Angeles County prosecutor John Lewin has won dismissal of defamation and emotional distress claims filed against him by one of a pair of prosecutors who allege they were wrongfully demoted due to their support for re-sentencing of the Menendez brothers.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang removed the four causes of action by granting Deputy District Attorney John Lewin’s anti-SLAPP motion on Friday. In her ruling, Chang noted that one of the alleged defamatory posts cited by Theberge’s attorney was actually more focused on former District Attorney George Gascón, who also favored the Menendez brothers re-sentencing.
The judge said the Lewin’s remarks that most pertained to Theberge included “Gascón has literally destroyed the office from the ground up by bringing in public defenders like . . . Nancy Theberge” and “Theberge and others have no experience prosecuting criminals and (have) no interest in doing so.”
The first statement about Theberge can be interpreted as “hyperbole” and “opinion” and the second is actually “substantially true,” according to the judge.
“Regarding the statement that Theberge has `no interest’ in prosecution, this is Lewin’s interpretation and opinion,” Chang wrote. “The statement is not actionable defamation.”
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was filed in April 2025, the same day another prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Brock Lunsford, filed a similar complaint as both felt they were wrongfully demoted. The pair are also suing Los Angeles County and the District Attorney’s Office.
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 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.
“The statements at issue are classic examples of nonactionable opinion or true factual assertions,” Lewin’s attorneys stated. “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.”
Lewin’s lawyers also contended that the plaintiffs’ emotional distress claims failed because there was no evidence of “extreme or outrageous conduct” on Lewin’s part.
Theberge said she believed that re-sentencing Lyle and Erik Menendez was required by law and that it would be unlawful to not bring such a motion. However, after Gascón lost in November 2024 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.