The unseating of progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón in a closely watched election has added an eleventh-hour pall of uncertainty in the move to have Erik and Lyle Menendez resentenced nearly 30 years after their convictions for murdering their parents.

Some view the D.A. race in L.A. as a referendum on the state of public safety in the nation’s most populous county.

Yalamanchili, a former prosecutor in the circuit for almost five years, ran as an independent candidate. The incumbent, Deborah Gonzalez, a Democrat who served one term as district attorney, lost in both counties, although the vote tally was close in Athens, where Yalamanchili received just under 52% of the vote.