LOS ANGELES - Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney General, was sworn in today as the 44th District Attorney of Los Angeles County. Hundreds of elected leaders, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, first responders and supporters watched outside the Hall of Justice as Mr. Hochman was sworn in by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
DA Hochman vowed to improve public safety in Los Angeles County by pursuing appropriate sentences for violent and serious offenders, while also offering counseling and rehabilitation to those whose crimes were motivated by addiction or mental illness.
DA Hochman announced a series of immediate policy changes that he said would promote public safety by holding the most dangerous offenders accountable. He said he would inform prosecutors that he is eliminating former DA Gascón’s special directives that prohibited or strictly limited the filing of certain charges and sentencing enhancements.
Prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office will once again have the discretion to file charges based on the unique circumstances of each case, the crime committed, the defendant’s background, the impact on the victim and the law, he said.
“District attorneys must have only two things as their North Stars: the facts and the law,” DA Hochman said. “I reject blanket extreme policies on both sides of the pendulum swing – decarceration policies that predetermine that certain crimes and certain criminals are not going to be prosecuted and mass incarceration policies that also are not anchored in the facts and the law.”
Watch the swearing-in.
Read the news release.Read more...
