Nathan Hochman will begin his term as Los Angeles County’s district attorney Tuesday, taking office after promising to restore balance to a criminal justice system he says was too lenient on violent and repeat offenders for the last four years.
Hochman has vowed to wipe away many of the policies enacted by his predecessor George Gascón, and perhaps befitting his stated intentions he will be sworn in by “The Terminator” himself, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, around noon in front of the downtown Hall of Justice.
Much like Schwarzenegger, who has expressed concern about politics that hurt public safety and said he doesn’t “like either party right now,” Hochman ran as an independent and centrist. A former Republican, Hochman easily parried Gascón’s attempts to label him as a right-wing extremist and defeated the incumbent by a nearly 20-point margin, attracting voters in deep-blue L.A. County with a campaign that offered a “hard middle” approach to fighting crime.
Although Hochman has said his administration will not abandon all of Gascón’s criminal justice reform focus in service of public safety, his early policy positions seem more focused on punitive measures.
Hochman has pledged to undo Gascón’s ban on seeking the death penalty, though he said pursuit of death sentences will take place only in “rare” cases, including school shootings or the “cold-blooded assassination of a police officer.” A moratorium issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 prevents executions from taking place.
Hochman also plans to remove a Gascón edict that barred prosecutors from filing a number of low-level misdemeanor charges, including simple drug possession and trespassing, though he has said first-time offenders could still be offered diversion programs for mental health or addiction issues. Going forward, Hochman said, prosecutors will also have wider latitude to seek sentencing enhancements, which can add several years to the prison terms of defendants convicted of gun or gang crimes.
“The lines will be enforced again. They will be done in a proportional way, a commonsense way, a way that rejects extremes,” Hochman said in a recent interview with The Times. “Both the extreme that we’ve been living with of decarceration, which says that certain crimes and certain criminals will not be prosecuted, as well as the extremes of mass incarceration.”
Hochman said he will announce the formation of several task forces to deal with “homelessness, fentanyl, human trafficking, organized retail crime and residential burglary,” which would involve partnerships with local law enforcement and county and city agencies that aid the unhoused.
The new district attorney is also expected to retool the office’s leadership structure by ousting some of Gascón’s closest handpicked advisors. Last month, Hochman named Steve Katz, a 34-year veteran of the office who recently led the Public Integrity Division, to replace Joseph Iniguez as chief deputy district attorney. Hochman also intends to boot former public defenders Shelan Joseph and Tiffiny Blacknell from their positions as special counsel and chief of staff, according to a November e-mail sent by Katz that was obtained by The Times.
Iniguez and Joseph did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Blacknell said her removal was a “direct consequence” of her criticisms of police brutality, and argued the decision was political in nature. She says she is not leaving the office, though it is not clear where she would be reassigned.
“My removal is essentially a campaign promise from Hochman himself, aimed at silencing anyone who dares to challenge the entrenched status quo,” she said in a statement.
Hochman held a news conference outside the Hall of Justice during the campaign attacking Blacknell, who has been a controversial figure in Gascón’s orbit for most of his term. The chief of staff position did not exist prior to Gascón’s tenure and it was not clear if Hochman would appoint anyone to fill the role.
When Gascón took office four years ago, he blindsided many in his office with an inauguration address that announced drastic policy changes, kicking off years of bitter contention and lawsuits between him and his staff. Leaders of the union that represented rank-and-file prosecutors say they’re “hopefully optimistic” about improved relations with the incoming administration.
“We were encouraged by our meeting with him two weeks ago. He gave us more time than the prior administration had given us in four years combined and I would call it a productive and open meeting in which we discussed core concerns for our members,” said Ryan Erlich, vice president of the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys.
Hochman will also get a taste Tuesday of the progressive forces determined to challenge him at every turn.
Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, said Monday that she plans to lead a protest outside the new district attorney’s inauguration alongside dozens of families whose relatives were killed by police in Los Angeles County. Gascón was far more aggressive in prosecuting police misconduct than any other district attorney in L.A. County history, and Hochman’s closeness with law enforcement groups has left some worried he will not pursue such cases with the same vigor.