When President Trump deployed the Nationwide Guard to quell protests final month towards immigration raids unfolding throughout Los Angeles County, he claimed widespread lawlessness compelled him to ship within the troops.
Noting that the unrest was confined to a small part of downtown, Hochman promised to carry the lawbreakers accountable and disputed that Los Angeles was “under siege.”
Reflecting on the second in a latest interview with The Instances, Hochman stated he wished to set the report straight with out igniting a partisan dispute.
“What I’m hearing and reading and seeing is a political discourse that I have no interest in engaging in,” he stated. “But one that is misstating what the factual context is on the ground.”
A former Republican who rebranded as an impartial final yr, Hochman promised to “get politics out” of the district lawyer’s workplace. He endorsed Kamala Harris within the 2024 presidential race however has caught to his self-described “hard middle” since, focusing as a substitute on restoring order to an workplace he criticized as being too chaotic below his predecessor.
Federal immigration brokers close to MacArthur Park within the Westlake space on July 7.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
Now greater than six months into Hochman’s first time period, prosecutors and regulation enforcement officers say the brand new district lawyer has delivered “a return to normalcy” after the contentious time period of progressive luminary George Gascón. By repealing practically all of Gascón’s sweeping insurance policies, Hochman is permitting his prosecutors to mete out justice as they see match, restoring a relative diploma of concord to an workplace that spent 4 years at struggle with itself.
However Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement marketing campaign is testing the boundaries of Hochman’s neutrality.
When immigration brokers adopted two ladies by means of an L.A. courthouse final month and arrested them, it drew outcries from practically all corners of L.A.’s authorized neighborhood. However not Hochman, whose strained diplomacy has raised eyebrows.
“When the head prosecutor in the county doesn’t take a position, silence may appear to the community as support,” stated L.A. County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia.
Hochman stated that his workplace just isn’t collaborating with the federal authorities on immigration enforcement and that he would like if immigration brokers let state-level instances play out earlier than taking motion.
“I’m doing my best to focus on my mission, which is public safety. There’s a lot of politics going on and a lot of noise above that mission, whether it’s the president squabbling with the governor, squabbling with the mayor or anybody else who wants to interject in the political discussions,” he stated. “I’m going out of my way nowadays to keep our focus in this office on the public safety aspect.”
“You’d swear to God, L.A. was under siege. I mean I got scared the first night,” he stated. “I’m calling up my people and I’m saying, ‘Is this going on throughout the city and the county?’”
Superpowers, movie star trials and stark contrasts
Hochman’s measured method stands in distinction not solely to Gascón’s but additionally to his counterpart’s on the federal prosecutor’s workplace in Los Angeles.
Though Hochman talked as a candidate about crime in apocalyptic tones, took important cash from conservative megadonors and labored with fundraisers tied to Trump, his overhaul of the district lawyer’s workplace has not resembled the right-wing makeover some feared it will. If something, Hochman’s regulation and order orientation is in keeping with statewide voter shifts on prison justice reform.
Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman proclaims “aggressive action” towards retail theft throughout a information convention outdoors a 7-Eleven in Might.
(Al Seib / For The Instances)
Gone are Gascón’s reformist insurance policies discouraging the usage of money bail and limiting the usage of sentencing enhancements. The loss of life penalty is again on the desk, though Hochman has not but pursued it towards a defendant.
Six months into his time period, knowledge present Hochman is charging felonies at roughly the identical fee Gascón did. Though the brand new district lawyer vowed throughout his marketing campaign to cost extra juveniles as adults, to this point he has pursued a complete of 5 instances — the identical quantity Gascón had right now final yr, based on a spokesperson for the workplace.
After Hochman worn out Gascón’s ban on submitting sure misdemeanors, prosecutors charged practically 70% of all low-level instances offered by police within the first half of 2025, information present. Hochman says it’s a needed step to discourage criminals, however Garcia and different advocates warn it places extra individuals susceptible to deportation.
Hochman says he’s merely implementing the regulation, and infrequently presents himself as a person attempting to get the trains again on time. In his downtown workplace, a framed silver age comedian guide sits by his desk, chronicling the adventures of “Mr. District Attorney.” Hochman laughs when describing the Forties hero who appears to share his straight-ahead method to the job.
“He doesn’t have any superpowers,” Hochman says. “Turns out, he’s just a really good lawyer.”
In an try to win over rank-and-file prosecutors, Hochman crammed his administration with workplace veterans. And he’s made a degree of dropping in on trials giant and small — from movie star defendants to juvenile instances removed from the headlines — to cheer on his workers.
“We’ve seen a return to normalcy. We have a general understanding of what the expectations are of us,” stated Deputy Dist. Atty. Ryan Erlich, president of the union that represents most of Hochman’s workers. “We feel the upper management understands the job that we do, and it allows us to communicate and work on issues.”
Marilyn Manson, Menendez brothers and political pitfalls
Good vibes apart, a few of Hochman’s selections have rankled line prosecutors and led to political pitfalls.
The workplace has been on the fallacious finish of a number of high-profile instances this yr, main some prosecutors to query why the district lawyer’s even-keel conduct tends to falter when the lights are on brightest.
“He wants to be recognized, so he’s always involved in these high-profile cases,” stated one veteran deputy district lawyer, who spoke on the situation of anonymity for worry of retribution. “Sometimes to the detriment of the case.”
In January, Hochman introduced he wouldn’t deliver rape fees towards rock star Marilyn Manson — roughly 4 months after he held a marketing campaign occasion alongside a few of Manson’s purported victims to assault Gascón’s dealing with of the case.
Throughout his marketing campaign for district lawyer final yr, Nathan Hochman spoke alongside actor Esme Bianco to criticize his opponent’s dealing with of a case involving singer Marilyn Manson.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Instances)
“You don’t parade people out. … I found that so deeply offensive,” stated Lenora Claire, a former member of the district lawyer’s workplace’s sufferer advisory board. “What was that choice other than being completely irresponsible? He hadn’t reviewed the case.”
Hochman stated the case was dealt with appropriately and prosecutors decided to not cost that was “rooted in facts and the law, not a political agenda.”
Hochman’s private involvement within the resentencing hearings for Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers who killed their dad and mom in a pair of brutal shotgun murders in 1989, additionally drew scrutiny. The brothers have been every serving a life sentence with no hope of launch till Gascón petitioned for his or her resentencing final yr, a transfer Hochman opposed each on the marketing campaign path after which in courtroom.
Hochman’s interactions with the Menendez household drew allegations of bias and his resolution to switch the prosecutors who filed Gascón’s petition resulted in a civil go well with. Throughout one listening to in Might, he personally took over arguments within the courtroom and stated the brothers wanted to point out correct “insight” into their crimes, even after a decide repeatedly warned him it was legally irrelevant.
The brothers have been resentenced and might be launched by the parole board later this yr. Hochman defended his hands-on method — and maintained he finally got here out forward.
“When people say did you win or lose the Menendez case, I say we won. The defense was asking for immediate release through a voluntary manslaughter finding. The judge didn’t go there,” Hochman stated.
Harder sentences, ticked off attorneys
After a marketing campaign fueled by pro-law enforcement rhetoric, some protection attorneys say Hochman’s election has emboldened prosecutors to develop into unnecessarily aggressive.
“They are focused more now on incarceration and high prison sentences, as opposed to probation and the opportunity for rehabilitation,” lawyer Damon Alimouri stated.
One in all Alimouri’s purchasers, Gerardo Miguel, is at the moment awaiting trial in a vandalism and housebreaking case after allegedly smashing his method right into a Los Angeles residence whereas screaming, “call the police” earlier than hiding within the sufferer’s toilet, based on courtroom information.
Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman outdoors the Van Nuys Courthouse throughout a listening to within the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez in Might.
(Damian Dovarganes / Related Press)
Nobody was injured within the incident. Miguel didn’t steal something, nor does he have a prison report. But, Alimouri stated, the district lawyer’s workplace’s solely plea provide would ship his consumer to state jail.
“[The prosecutor] said, I’m concerned about the safety of the public, this guy could have done X, Y and Z,” Alimouri stated of the plea negotiation. “But the fact of the matter is [my client] didn’t do X, Y and Z. He curled up in the fetal position and called for help.”
Garcia, the general public defender, additionally expressed frustration that Hochman’s prosecutors have been combating makes an attempt to get defendants into the county’s Speedy Diversion Program, which permits defendants to get remedy with out taking up a prison conviction. This system has a 90% success fee, based on Garcia.
Hochman, who championed the usage of some psychological well being diversion packages throughout his marketing campaign, says it’s an absence of county sources that limits the usage of various justice packages.
“We don’t have enough beds, anywhere in this county, for dealing with that whole population,” Hochman stated.
Allocating sources is the job of L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors, a panel that leans closely left. Hochman gained’t face reelection till 2028, and till then observers say his centrism might be an asset.
“The advantage to being an independent is he can put the voters in the city before his political party,” stated Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications on the College of Southern California. “Anyone with a D or an R next to their name comes under immense pressure to toe their respective party lines.”
Instances workers author Richard Winton contributed to this report.
