Nathan Hochman to start term as LA County District Attorney Tuesday
After defeating George Gascón in the November election, Nathan Hochman will be sworn in as Los Angeles' newest district attorney this Tuesday.
Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform, often criticizing his opponent for worsening public safety in the county through his approach to running the office. Voters elected Gascón, a Democrat who campaigned on a platform of reform and police accountability, in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd.
Hochman, a former longtime Republican who ran as an independent candidate, said the closely watched race displayed frustrations voters had with the policies Gascón implemented in the past four years.
"What they want is they want a DA to his job so that law enforcement can do their job," Hochman said. "We're going to remove extreme blanket policies."
During the campaign, Hochman described Gascón's policies as a "pro-criminal" approach. He continued this rhetoric following his victory, claiming that Gascón's office "perpetrated" a "culture of lawlessness" in the County, during an interview with the Associated Press.
"We're going to reverse that," he said. "You basically say, 'Here are the lines in our society, the lines are the laws, I'm going to consistently, fairly and impartially enforce them and here the real consequences on the other side. So if you want to, test me. If you think I'm bluffing, I'm not bluffing.'"
In the past, Hochman has said the DA's office should be prosecuting lower-level crimes such as loitering for prostitution and drug possession. During an interview with KCAL News, Hochman clarified that he rejects mass incarceration, despite voters' perception of him as the tough-on-crime candidate and his desire to reverse Gascón's policies.
"I also reject mass incarceration policies that don't look at the facts and law," he said. "They just want to put as many people in prison as possible. Where I come down is the middle." I call it the hard work middle, or the hard middle, because you got to do the work."
Hochman's so-called "hard work middle" aims to avoid blanket policies because, in his words, they are "inherently lazy."
"The middle policies look at each case individually, the individual defendant and their background, the crime committed, and the impact on the victim, to determine who the true threats are to our public safety and need to be behind bars," Hochman said.
Instead of prison, Hochman said he would consider community service, restitution or other punishment recommendations.
"Pay it back if you stole something," he said. "Or, if you have a serious drug addiction that got you to do the crime, a diversion program, that says you can go to prison or do an 18-month rehab program and if you succeed with it, we'll wipe that crime off your record."
One of Hochman's first high-profile cases as district attorney would be the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez.
Erik and Lyle Menendez fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1989, at their Beverly Hills home. They were arrested months later and charged with first-degree murder.
From there, they faced two jury trials in 1993 and 1995, with the first ending in a hung jury and mistral, and the second resulting in guilty verdicts.
Since their conviction, the Menendez brothers maintained that they killed their parents in self-defense. In November, the two brothers appeared in court for their habeas corpus petition, one of three avenues in their resentencing bids. The resentencing hearings will continue in January, allowing Hochman to review the cases.
"I wouldn't engage in delay for delay's sake because this case is too important to the Menendez brothers," Hochman said in an interview earlier in November. "It's too important to the victims' family members. It's too important to the public to delay more than necessary to do the review that people should expect from a district attorney."
