Schwarzenegger commuted his sentence, now convicted killer about to be freed

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to significantly reduce the manslaughter sentence of a political ally’s son will lead to the man’s release from a California prison within days.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Friday that Esteban Nunez will be paroled within a week, though it wouldn’t give the exact day for security reasons.

Nunez was part of a group of college students from Sacramento who got into a brawl with local students near the campus of San Diego State in 2008. A knife fight that ended in the death of Luis Santos.

He entered prison in June 2010 to serve a 16-year sentence for the stabbing death. Schwarzenegger, on his last day in office in 2011, reduced the sentence to seven years.

The 27-year-old Nunez is the son of Fabian Nunez, speaker of the state Assembly while Schwarzenegger was governor.

A California appeals court last year upheld Schwarzenegger’s power to reduce the sentence after the victim’s parents sued.

Santos’ parents were outraged then, and they remain angry.