Nathan Hochman to be sworn in as LA County District Attorney

Nathan Hochman, who unseated George Gascón in the November election, was officially sworn in as the new Los Angeles County District Attorney by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on 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.
During Tuesday’s ceremony, held outside the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and leading law enforcement officials including Sheriff Robert Luna and newly appointed LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell spoke ahead of Hochman being sworn in, praising the new DA’s promise to tackle crime in the region.  
As he introduced Hochman, Schwarzenegger echoed the sentiments of the LA officials who spoke before him, describing a need for increased accountability and a tougher but fair approach to leading the largest prosecutor’s office in the country.
“I’m so happy that you were elected. I’m so happy that you are our next district attorney because I came here over 56 years ago as an immigrant to Los Angeles because it was the mecca of bodybuilding, the mecca of the movie industry, the mecca of innovation,” Schwarzenegger said. “Everything was fantastic here. But what I have seen over the last few years was pitiful.” 
 After taking his oath to lead the DA’s office, Hochman, a former longtime Republican who ran as an independent candidate, repeated his campaign promises to protect public safety and hold criminals accountable. 
“I am deeply honored for the opportunity of a lifetime. It has been given to me to lead the finest district attorney’s office in the nation: the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” Hochman said as he spoke alongside his wife, Vivienne. 
“We are not here today as Democrats, Independents or Republicans…” he said, “we are here collectively as Angelenos, who represent the 10 million clients of the district attorney’s office who are looking to live in a county where safety is prioritized, laws are followed and those who break them are held accountable and the process to get there is fair, impartial and effective.” 
Following his election win, the new DA had 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.”
In an interview with the Associated Press, during his campaign, Hochman had described Gascón’s policies as advocating a “pro-criminal” approach — claiming Gascón’s office “perpetrated” a “culture of lawlessness” in the County.
“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 a tough-on-crime candidate with 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 will be the handling of resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez. 
The brothers fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1989, at their Beverly Hills home. They were arrested months later and later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
They had 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.
During their trials, and since their convictions, the Menendez brothers maintained that they killed their parents in self-defense. In November, they appeared in court for their habeas corpus petition, one of three avenues in their bids for an early release. 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.”