The Santos family is suing former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after the commutation of Esteban Nuñez’s 16 year sentence to 7 years.

Nunez was involved in the fatal 2008 stabbing of then Mesa College student Luis Santos.

Outraged, the family filed a lawsuit Jan. 20 on the basis of Marsy’s Law, or the Victim’s Bill of Rights, which allows the victim and victim’s family to be heard during major judicial post-trial decisions.

Nuñez, son of the former California Assembly Speaker and political ally of Schwarzenegger Fabian Nuñez, had his sentence commuted by Schwarzenegger’s on his final day in office. Schwarzenegger did so without any word from the former governor.

“The governor did not even have the courtesy to notify the victim’s family,” said Fred Santos, Luis Santos’ father, to LA Times reporters. “This is dirty politics: cutting backroom deals. I guess if you’re the son of somebody important, you can kill someone and get all sorts of breaks.”

Nuñez, Ryan Jett, Leshanor Thomas and Rafael Garcia, calling themselves “The Hazard Crew,” attempted to enter a fraternity party near San Diego State University and were turned away the night of Oct. 3, 2008.

“The Hazard Crew” continued to drink at a friend’s apartment until about 2 a.m. After leaving, the four men ran into Santos and three other students who were leaving the fraternity party. All four were stabbed and Santos’ heart was severed.

According to the 2008 arrest warrant, “Nuñez said whatever happens, he would take the rap for it and hopefully his dad would take care of it and could get them off on self defense.”

Nuñez pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon in order to avoid a murder charge, which would have landed the “crew” 25 years to life in prison. Instead Jett and Nuñez received 16 years.

Schwarzenegger reasoned that Nuñez did not have a prior criminal record and did not deserve the same sentence as Jett, who allegedly dealt the fatal wound to Santos’ heart.

According to the LA Times Fred Santos believes this is “100 percent politics and nothing but.”

With his lawsuit against the former governor Santos hopes to end the careers of both Schwarzenegger and Fabian Nuñez – setting an example for future would-be backroom dealers.

“The governor’s decision is a reflection of what this case would have been like if politics had not been involved,” Nuñez’s trial lawyer Brad Patton told LA Times reporters.

The Santos family, who filed their lawsuit in Sacramento, will be among the first to challenge the governor’s power to commute a prisoner’s sentence. Marsy’s Law, which was passed in 2008, is vague on enforcement rules against this specific power granted to California’s governors.

“We’re not saying that (Schwarzenegger) doesn’t have the power to commute a sentence, but he does not have the power to violate the Constitution and … there were mandated guidelines that he needed to follow,” Nina Salarno Ashford, a lawyer for the Santos family, told Reuters.