The 19-year-old son of Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has been arrested in connection to the fatal stabbing of a 22-year-old San Diego college student.
Esteban Nunez, along with three other young men, were involved in a fatal brawl near San Diego State in October which ended with one young man dead, and three others wounded. All four are being charged with one count of murder, and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
When contacted by reporters, Fabian Nunez declined to comment and referred inquiries to the law offices of C. Bradly Patton. Fabian Nunez served 6 years in the California Assembly and four years as speaker until term limits forced him to leave office this year.
This is a pretty sad situation for everyone involved, mostly for the dead kid’s family, but also for Fabian Nunez, who was rumored to have been interested in being LA Mayor when Antonio Villaraigosa leaves office.
San diego state was very well known in my college days as thee party school.
I’m sure things have changed but as a parent sending off my daughter to college in 6 years San Diego State is not an option.
You never know, perhaps voters will be understanding of the situation.
This is not the school’s fault nor the father’s fault. Let the process work here.
Well, At the moment, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara are known as the most popular party schools.
I wonder what the political ramifications were for politicians in similar situations?
Were I in a similar situation, I probably wouldn’t seek election, if anything to spare my son increased attention and humiliation. Then again, I would be a family first kinda guy. I’m not saying Fabian Nunez wasn’t a family man, but come on now, kids don’t just go to a party and stab someone out of the blue. My parents were constantly vigilant for any signs of trouble with all their kids, and they were pretty effective at nipping any problems in the bud. Isn’t that responsible parenting Dan? Knowing your kids? Shouldn’t politicians be even more vigilant for troubled kids, seeing as how they are our leaders?
We don’t know enough about the events leading to the arrest. Was he actively involved, or hanging out with the others arrested? I’d like to know more about the situation before making judgment.
The hapless guy accused of being the Olympic bomber comes to mind. The media quickly jumped on the story and the guy was shredded and unemployable. Years later he was found blameless. Does anyone remember who the real bomber was?
Let’s wait to hear more about the story before passing judgment on Fabian’s parenting skills, let alone his son’s behavior.
The real bomber was Timothy McVeigh, our own homegrown terrorist, who was executed in 2000 I believe.
Th point that I was trying to get at, which I guess I didn’t articulate carefully enough was, If Esteban is found guilty, should the rational voter take that into account at the voting booth? This would obviously impact Fabian Nunez negatively.
In my opinion if this all pans out, I think it has merit as being a campaign issue voters should consider.
Timothy McVeigh was Oklahoma City and not Atlanta. Eric Rudolph was the Olympic bomber and is serving a life sentence. Nunez’s son is 19 and a legal adult. Fabian is not responsible for what his adult son does anymore than your parents are responsible for you Steve.
Not only that, Steve, but what do you mean, Were I in a similar situation, I probably wouldn’t seek election, if anything to spare my son increased attention and humiliation. Then again, I would be a family first kinda guy. I’m not saying Fabian Nunez wasn’t a family man…?
Nunez isn’t running for anything, he’s termed out. I wasn’t sure where to start with all the errors in comments #4 and 6.
This Steve Perez, whom we’ve also been trying unsuccessfully to convince of the bogusness of the CNN “7 out of 10 blacks voted yes on 8” poll, is a BLOGGER here now??
Misha Howser: We know PLENTY about the arrest. Go to sfgate.com and read the long article about this heinous act. The were rejected, epithets were exchanged, the killers returned with knives, killed the two, then attempted to clean up and coverup the crime. Read the more detailed story on (again) sfgate.com . Then stop with the we don’t know enough stuff. We know enough.
What does a exit poll on the voting tendencies of racial minorities have to do with me blogging here?
Also Vern, to answer your question on what I meant, ill just re copy what I said
“Then again, I would be a family first kinda guy. I’m not saying Fabian Nunez wasn’t a family man, but come on now, kids don’t just go to a party and stab someone out of the blue”
That’s kind of self explanatory. Perhaps it might not make much sense to you, but i grew up in Anaheim, and these kind of things are unfortunately way too common in my demographic. And I say demographic because this problem is not class or race specific.
Also i clearly state in my blog that Fabian Nunez was termed out.
Dan I didn’t say Fabian should be responsible for what his son did, I merely posed the question of, how much of this should reflect on him as a parent?
Is your opinion really going to be that because he’s 19, anything he does shouldn’t reflect badly in the least on Fabian Nunez? Clearly being a Politician is a time consuming profession, and Fabian was a practicing politician when Esteban was 13 on up… kinda important years don’t you think?
I just think that someone whose able to manage a family and a career is a important thing. Isn’t this a huge reason why politicians are voted out, or don’t seek re-election, because of family problems? Adultery, hitting on former congressional pages, embarrassing family issues, everything is fair game.
Steve —
Since I’m a parent, I can tell you that from age 13-19 (my son is 17), children start making decisions on their own and the job of parenting shifts from one of controlling everty aspect of their lives to helping them understand their decisions and the consequences of such decisions. Suggesting Nunez is a bad or absent father due to his holding office is off base.
As much as I disagree with Chuch DeVore on most everything, I will say he is a good father who spends as much time with his kids as he can. I remember Chuck racing to Irvine for his daughter’s middle school gaduation by grabbing the first plane he could from Sac after the assembly cancelled the session for the day. I don’t even know if he had time to pack a suitcase, but he was there (my son and Chuck’s girl are the same age, so I was there too).
Take your argument to the next level. President-elect Obama has two small kids. His oldest daughter will be 18 and the end of his second term. What should he do?
And Vern – on the subject of bogusness (is that even a word?) and errors in comments, I guess that OJ doesn’t hold a monopoly on either.
OK I see now that Steve was referring to Fabian’s rumored run in LA; had only read the comments and not the post since I already knew about the arrest.
“Bogusness?” Good question. When converting an adjective to a noun or the like, I try to err on the side of brevity. So I would talk about the OJ and the LOC both having their share of BOGUE. Except nobody would know what I meant.
misha, why compare the “hapless” guy from the olympics who was a hero and died a hero to fabian nunez’s murdering punk son? i’m glad richard jewell got to finally see his dream of becoming a cop come true before his death. i hope the little nunez and his buds go to jail for life. i personally blame bad parenting here.
Bet you’re a helluva Scrabble player Vern
Vern, I suggest you read stories before you go around commenting. But if you think your an expert at talking about things you haven’t bothered to read then by all means.
Please try to add to the discussion or leave a comment, but don’t attack the author or other commentors without READING the post.
Dan,
You said, “This is not the school’s fault nor the father’s fault. Let the process work here.”
Just too let you know what my point was her is that the enviroment has alot to do with the success of many people,
Sure many people acheived great strives despite the environment they live, study or work in most people are a reflection of their enviroment.
As is the case why I’m sure you were camping overnight to enroll your daughter in those choice inncer city santa Ana schools.
This is what I meant when I stated that San diego school is a party school and well known for this…that why I would not send my daughter to that school(as you would not send your to a Santa Ana public school)
Am I blaming the school? No, but I think most parents, including the former Speaker of the Assembly, and I hope you, Dan, know better then to send you child to a well known party school.
Vern,
Yeah, you might want to actually READ my blog before commenting on it. Consider it a courtesy to me, but if you want to just pop in, and show me you care by commenting without bothering to read, well I suppose that’s OK too!
Dan,
You being a parent in no way gives you more insight into the parenting skills of Fabian Nunez, then me, being close to Esteban’s age gives me insight into whether or not parenting contributed to the situation he currently finds himself in. I, like you, can only make assumptions based on the facts presented. When kids get older is obvious parenting methods change. Yours and Chuck’s good parenting in no way relates to Fabian Nunez’s and his apparent lack of good parenting with his son, no matter how much you want your example to stick.
Misha my dear, do you want to reserve judgment on the bad Iraqi pre-war intelligence documents until they’re declassified, or are we free to judge that one? God forbid, had one of your kids stabbed someone, wouldn’t you have wondered if your parenting went astray? All I’m saying is, when children make mistakes, parenting comes into question, this isn’t that far-fetched of an idea… Or are you one of those democrats that doesn’t criticize other democrats for the good of the party? Because let me tell you, i know from experience critique does people good.
When it comes to parenting there is one thing we can all agree.
Blame the liberal jew media!!!
Oh wait i thought i was on redcounty….
In all seriousness we need to blame video games, because clearly his actions are in no way his own or the result of his upbringing.
The SF Chronicle story wasn’t out when I posted this morning. I have read the article, and though it sounds very damning, I’d like to hear more facts before passing judgment. Not every witness is credible when cross-examined.
Steve,
Using a term like “my dear” sounds a bit sexist and condescending. Enough said.
The Iraqi pre-war intelligence is a clever way to side-track the issue, and we’ve had years to discover the truth on that matter…we’re just getting the story on Estevan Fabian’s actions.
I prefer to hear from more witnesses before condemning the guy. Is it too far-fetched to think that he’s taking the blame for his friends precisely becuase he believes he’ll face lesser consequences because of his dad? It would be stupid for him to think that, but it’s a plausible explanation that he would take the heat for his friends. it wouldn’t be the first time someone who has an inflated sense of privilege tried to protect his/her friends.
Most parents in that situation will of course wonder and blame themselves, that’s the natural reaction. Parents blame themselves for everything that happens with our kids. It doesn’t mean that one’s parenting is the reason your child/adult committed a crime.
Like Dan said earlier, at a certain age, kids begin to make their own decisions and don’t tell their parents about them. Sometimes we find out and can help the teen/young adult understand how to deal with the consequences and have a dialogue about future actions, and sometimes we don’t.
To turn a metaphor back at you…by your logic, are you saying that if your child comes out of the closet, you had something to do with it? LOL.
Criticizing each other is such a fun sport, except that while we’re playing in our circular firing squad, our opponents are organizing in lock step. Why not try looking outside the circle once in a while, it does people good too…
Misha how dare you!!!
Equating stabbing some one with coming out of the closet is disgusting. And using that as a method to judge parents is abhorrent.
Nice to see you too think homosexuality is a choice and a result of parenting.
I don’t care if you were trying to prove a point but to use such a horrible example is actually very sexist and shows your ignorance and lack of empathy towards the gay community
Whats next next dead baby jokes. How dare you!!!
If any one is being sexist and condescending its you.
Ugh despicable.
Revan, you misunderstood my point…
I’m out of the closet and the thought of my parents blaming or congratulating themselves for that fact is laughable.
Well Misha, I may have misunderstood, but I took issue with your characterization of such a harrowing experience. Ive gone through it and im sure you’ve gone through it but, some of us have a worse time than others and i don’t appreciate it being made fun of.
I did not equate stabbing with coming out of the closet, please read my comment again. I was commenting on Steve’s comment:
“All I’m saying is, when children make mistakes, parenting comes into question, this isn’t that far-fetched of an idea… Or are you one of those democrats that doesn’t criticize other democrats for the good of the party? Because let me tell you, i know from experience critique does people good.”
I can tell you from personal experience,there are many people, who blame the parents when their child/adult comes out of the closet. My point is that it’s not right in that instance either.
So Misha, suddenly your worried about people being condensing, your one to talk! And by the way, “my dear†is a term of endearment not something that you don’t a sexist remark. Nice try though. I am sure Steve has enough decorum to not call you want to be called. And by the way the gay comparison was an extremely poor taste regardless of you being a lesbian.
My mistake was not saying anything about Steve’s gratuitous confusion of white terrorists, and going off to brood about that combined with his weird attachment to that discredited CNN poll; and then when I did come back and criticized him it was over something that was my mistake not his, which I would have know if I’d slogged thru his original post. Boy, I’ll never live that one down! Although I still think Fabian doesn’t need “family-kinda-guy” Steve telling him not to run for LA Mayor (especially since word is Antonio doesn’t want no Obama post anyhow.)
I’m sure Steve will write lots of good posts in the future, and he must be very heartened to have such a gallant and passionate defender in the anonymous “Revan!” [PS. Blacks. Prop 8. 57%. You know where to find me.]
Wow. Small world. I work (-ed, actually, since she just left the company a few weeks ago) with Brigida Santos, the victim’s sister. Crazy. I hope justice prevails.
“You being a parent in no way gives you more insight into the parenting skills of Fabian Nunez, then me, being close to Esteban’s age gives me insight into whether or not parenting contributed to the situation he currently finds himself in.”
Wait until you have kids; I was your age once, whereas you have no children and no idea of the responsibilities of parenting and how sometimes, in spite of your best efforts, your child is doing to make a wrong choice.
Judge slowly. We have no idea how close Nunez is/was with his son. Spectulation on this incident as it affects Nunez’s political career is reckless.
“In my opinion if this all pans out, I think it has merit as being a campaign issue voters should consider.” – Steve Perez
Steve, Nunez’s son is 19 and away from school, whereas Sarah Palin’s daughter, for instance, was 16 and living under the Alaska governor’s roof when she was impregnated by her boyfriend. My question for you is, if this is an issue of the actions of the child as they reflect the parenting skills of the mother and/or father, should Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy have been made an issue of consideration as well, inasmuch as it reflects the governor’s competence and overall judgement , especially given that the daughter was and is a minor child? I am just asking because it seemed as though the issue was off-limits and I heard a lot of “it could happen to anyone.” But, I think it’s important to be consistent when applying these arguments.
I for one, did think it should have been a consideration with Palin, and I do think it should be with Nunez, even if the son is found to only have played a minor role. But I would like to know what you think. Bear in mind that I am no conservative but I do think that parents who put their career first, as certainly Nunez and Palin, opportunists that they are, seem to do, are more likely to end up with children who make huge, stupid mistakes. I think it speaks to their priorities.
I tend to agree with Dan that sometimes it doesn’t matter how “good” a parent you are–your children sometimes make the wrong choices. That does not mean that a parent can never bear some of the responsibility for the sins of their children—in fact the law provides some legal responsibility if the child is under 18. Sometimes the parent being AWOL or abusive contributes to the child’s dance on the dark side of life. I don’t think Dan making his observation about a parent’s role means he is giving Fabian a favorable rating as a parent. Just that there is insuffiicient information to jump to conclusions.
Whether this matter “should” be an issue in Fabian’s future political endeavors, it’s pretty clear that as the mayor of California’s 4th largest city would say ” whether you like it or not”, it will.
I don’t understand why we’re so focused on the future of Nunez’ political career.
This is a family going through a crisis.
Let’s try to keep that in mind.
The only crisis the Nunez family has to deal with is watchng their son rot in prison, while somebody else who was only trying to mind their own business now has to rot in the earth.
I would love to watch the video of the Wannabe GangBanger Esteban having to deal with the real GangBangers in prison.
LC—Of course the Nunez family is going through a crisis. But so is the family of the victim, 22 year old student Luis Santos. Let’s try to keep that in mind.
Whenever a politician or an ex-politician wanting to get back into the saddle has some family scandal or situation like this, people pay attention. It’s not necessarily the end for these folks but it does factor into what people think. And possibly what some of the clients of Mercury Public Affairs think. I’m not focused on Fabian’s political future—I’m just hoping that his son is wrong when he allegedly told his pals that his dad would “take care of it” and get them off on self defense.
Dan,
your arguments…
“Wait until you have kids; I was your age once, whereas you have no children and no idea of the responsibilities of parenting”
seem to indicate to me, that for whatever reason, you think you have a monopoly on parenting issues, you don’t, no matter how much you point out that I don’t have a family of my own. It seems like your taking this issue close to heart. I never said he was an absent father, and giving my opinion on news that’s in the headlines is not reckless.
Chris,
I wasn’t blogging here during the election, but I have pretty strong feelings about Sarah Palin and her shortcomings. Her teenage daughter being knocked up wouldn’t be that big of a deal, to me, were it not for the fact that her mother’s a Governor, and against virtually every form of reasonable sex education. Being against sex education, and being a inattentive parent are not a good mix. Sarah Palin’s daughter being preggers surprised me on another account as well. The Palin family is rooted in the Pentecostal-christian faith where women are expected to be extremely conservative in their lifestyle and dress(ie no pants, only skirts, no makeup, boy interaction highly discouraged). The females in married relationships are subordinates of the males, and in the end, whatever the husband wants he gets. It’s the combination of all the things that I know about Sarah Palin, that makes her in my mind, a crappy parent. It was a campaign issue for me, it should’ve been a campaign issue for everyone, and it speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of the radical right.
TLC and NCS,
I feel very sorry for this victim, who according to the media did nothing to instigate this attack. He literally was just leaving a party and was ambushed. My heart goes out to the family.
I don’t have a monopoly on this; I’m a parent and you’re not. I know things about parenting now that I had no clue about before hand
I have no idea what kind of father Fabian Nunez has or hasn’t been to Esteban. To echo Dan and NCS, children aren’t computers you can program. You can raise them all the same way, and some may go on to success in life, while others to failure.
Esteban is an adult, and is responsible for his own actions. Personally, my sympathy is with the murder victim’s family, not so much with the Nunez family.
But the comparisons with Bristol Palin are absurd. Unlike teen pregnancy, being involved in a murder isn’t something that can “happen to anybody.”
My comparison was of Sarah Palin’s and Fabain Nunez’s parenting skills not of Bristol Palin and Esteban Nunez. Bristol is in no way comparable to Esteban. Bristol did something commendable and what Esteban is accused of doing, if it turns out to be true, is deplorable.