LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In one of his last acts as California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday reduced the prison term imposed on the son of a former state Assembly speaker for his role in the stabbing death of a San Diego college student.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose seven-year tenure ends on Monday with the inauguration of Democrat Jerry Brown as governor, ordered the 16-year prison sentence levied in June against Esteban Nunez commuted to seven years.

Nunez, now 22, pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and assault stemming from the fatal stabbing of Mesa College student Luis Santos during a drunken brawl near San Diego State University in 2008.

In exchange for his guilty plea prosecutors dropped murder charges against Nunez, whose father, Fabian Nunez, a prominent Los Angeles Democrat, served six years in the state Assembly, including four years as Assembly speaker.

The elder Nunez left office in late 2008.

In his commutation order on Sunday, Schwarzenegger called the sentence received by Esteban Nunez “excessive” in comparison to the same 16-year term imposed on co-defendant Ryan Jett, who also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault.

While Nunez admitted in his plea to aiding and abetting the slaying, the judge described Jett as the one who actually stabbed Santos to death and as the instigator of the attack, though Nunez admitted stabbing another person who survived the brawl, Schwarzenegger wrote.

Schwarzenegger also said Nunez lacked any previous criminal record while Jett had a number of prior felony convictions.

Esteban Nunez was one of three California inmates whose sentences were commuted by the governor on Sunday, his last full day in office.