After beating out incumbent George Gascón in the race for Los Angeles County District Attorney, Nathan Hochman will be the 44th person to assume the role when he takes office.
Among the many issues Hochman, 60, will inherit from the previous DA, none may be more high-profile than the Menendez brothers’ murder case.
Gascón announced in October that he supported resentencing the brothers — who were both given life sentences in 1995 — in what some saw as a strategic move to get his name in the news while he was losing in preliminary polls.
Others, including many Menendez family members, argue that the brothers have paid their dues for their crimes and are rehabilitated and ready to reintegrate into society.
In an exclusive sit-down interview with KTLA, Hochman outlined his plans for navigating the case.
“Here’s my approach, whether it’s the Menendez case or quite honestly any case: you have to do the hard work,” he told KTLA on Wednesday morning. “You have to look, in that case, at thousands of pages of confidential prison files, you have to review thousands of trial transcripts from months-long trials, and you have to speak to the prosecutors, law enforcement and the defense counsel…and the victims’ families.”
“Only then can you be in a position to determine whether resentencing is the remedy in this situation or whether what is asked for in the resentencing is the appropriate request,” Hochman continued. “I’m not in that position now, but I can tell you if I do have to make that call, I will do the hard work to make the right decision.”
The DA-elect will take office on Dec. 2, which is before the hearing to free the brothers.
Hochman also spoke on his soon-to-be predecessor’s “extreme pro-criminal policies” but did say that he was not critical of Gascón’s focus on solving problems plaguing L.A. County, only the ways he wanted to go about doing so.
“[Gascón’s] extreme pro-criminal policies weren’t focused on the facts or the laws, but predetermined that certain crimes — like stealing under $950 if you’re a juvenile or engaging in violent conduct as a gang member — were not going to be prosecuted no matter what the facts and the law are,” he said. “I reject those extreme policies but I also reject the extreme mass incarceration policies that again, don’t care about the facts or the law…they just want to put as many people in jail as possible.”
Instead, Hochman described his philosophy as “the hard work middle,” stressing that each case needs to be looked at one-by-one.
“You have to look at…the individual defendant, the crime committed and the impact on the victim to determine who the true threats are to our public safety and who need to be behind bars, which are often repeat offenders,” Hochman told the KTLA Morning News.
When pressed by KTLA 5’s Frank Buckley on what specific things Hochman will do when he takes office, the DA-elect stated that his campaign talking points are “exactly what [he] will do on day one.”
“I will eliminate these pro-criminal extreme policies…and empower the 750 prosecutors George Gascón didn’t even speak to,” he said. “I am going to listen and learn from them [because] they bring collectively thousands of years of prosecutorial experience, and while I have 34 years, I understand the difference. So I will ask them what is working and we will continue it, and [I will ask] what’s not working and their solutions to fix [those problems.]”
Lauren Lewis contributed to this report.
