01-03-2011, 10:47 PM
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#2
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Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Schwarzenegger Commutes Manslaughter Sentence of Lawmaker's Son
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Quote:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...nunez-son.html
The argument, Sevilla said, was based on the fact that Esteban Nuñez and Ryan Jett had both pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon although Nuñez had no criminal record and no evidence showed that he had stabbed Santos, whereas Jett had two previous convictions, was on felony probation and was shown to have fatally stabbed Santos.
Sevilla said he also mentioned in the paperwork that the San Diego County Superior Court judge had suggested he would give Nuñez a lesser sentence (probably seven to 11 years) than Jett. When both were instead sentenced to 16 years, the maximum, Nuñez’s father had an angry outburst in court.
Like Patton, Sevilla said he believes Esteban Nuñez, who was 19 at the time of the incident, received the same sentence as Jett because the judge did not want to be criticized as allegedly giving preference to the son of a politically powerful father.
“People think he benefited from his father’s status,” Sevilla said. “I think he suffered from it. The criminal justice system, and the media in its coverage, bent over backward to make sure he got no benefit. This became the ‘Nuñez case.’ I think the system became zealous in its effort not to show favoritism.”
Any other defendant in similar circumstances as Esteban Nuñez, Sevilla said, would have gotten a sentencing like that imposed by the governor, not the maximum sentence handed out by the judge.
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