Two public prosecutors plan to sue the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office claiming they were demoted and disparaged for calling for the killer Menendez brothers to be set free.
On Monday, district attorneys Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford filed court papers against LA County for retaliation, defamation and discrimination, arguing that newly-elected DA Nathan Hochman demoted them after they formally recommended Lyle and Erik Menendez be resentenced.
The filings are viewed as a precursor to a lawsuit.
The pair allege Deputy District Attorney John Lewin — who helped prosecute rap star A$AP Rocky — ruined their reputations by likening them both to Nazi collaborators and publicly accusing Theberge of selling her integrity for “a few extra nickels.”
“Their careers have been totally derailed,” Justin Shegerian, lawyer for the two prosecutors, told The Post.
In October, they recommended resentencing the Menendez brothers — while then-District Attorney George Gascón, a Democrat, was weighing what to do with the case — who were convicted of the 1989 shotgun slaying of their wealthy parents.
Hochman — a Republican turned independent — unseated Gascón the following month by taking a hardline stance and vowing to undo many of his predecessor’s soft-on-crime policies.
Shortly after, Lunsford, who had been with the DA’s office for 25 years, was shunted into a calendar deputy role at a smaller courthouse. Theberge, despite glowing performance reviews, was transferred back to her old job at the public defender’s office, the complaint claims.
“Both of these individuals were the only names that appeared on the motion of resentencing, and they were the two that were demoted, sent off to Siberia, if you will,” Shegerian said.
The pair also allege that Lewin, the deputy DA, bashed them in interviews and on social media, referring to them as “quislings” — a nickname for Nazi collaborators during World War II — and accusing Theberge of selling “her soul.”
The District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The forthcoming litigation is the latest legal skirmish in the high-profile battle over the fate of the polarizing brothers — after a hit Netflix documentary and television series catapulted them back into the spotlight.
Gascón had previously recommended that the court reduce their charges from murder to manslaughter when new evidence surfaced that the brothers had been sexually abused by their father.
And for a time, it seemed like the pair might be out of jail in time for Christmas.
But Gascón’s stinging defeat at the polls effectively hit the reset button on the case — with Hochman saying he would need to conduct a full review before deciding what to do.
The case was further stalled following the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, pushing back a scheduled court hearing from January to late March.
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