Hochman Reveals, Confirms Plans In First Post-Election Interviews

Los Angeles County District Attorney-elect Nathan Hochman gave his first look into what he planned to do as DA post-election on Thursday in an interview with the Associated Press, with Hochman reiterating on keeping his campaign promises of undoing what current DA George Gascon had did during his four years in office.

The negative backlash over Gascon’s reform-minded policies, which included reduced sentencing, death penalty opposition, and general discontent from many, swung the election heavily towards Hochman’s favor. With so many opposed to Gascon, Hochman quickly jumped into first in the race following the primary. The first polls in April found Hochman at 44%, up by 21 points over Gascon at 23%, and 33% undecided. With high crime concerns and a growing number victims and family members of victims directly blaming Gascon for crimes, as well as the loss of loved ones because of his policies, things only grew worse for Gascon over the summer. Huge numbers of endorsements, many of whom previously backed Democratic candidates, suddenly began migrating towards Hochman.

As the election neared, Gascon received endorsements from the Los Angeles County Democratic party and the Los Angeles Times. Gascon also made an all out blitz in the last month before the election. He managed to out-fundraise Hochman, despite not having George Soros donate anything, leading to ads galore coming out in LA County. This included ads pointing to Hochman as a former Republican, trying to consolidate party unity around Gascon. He also tried to appeal to voters by backing the push to free the Menendez Brothers. However, this did nothing to help Gascon. A USC/CSU poll released at the beginning of October found that Gascon was now 24 points behind, with 44% in favor of Hochman, 20% Gascon and around 33% undecided. Even more disheartening was the latest poll over the weekend, which found that Hochman now had a near-majority of 50% of voters, with 25% backing Gascon and another 25% undecided.

The first results last Tuesday immediately led to the calling of the race for Hochman, who had a 61% of the vote with 59% of precincts reporting by the end of election day. According to the latest results from the County as of Thursday night, Hochman is still up 60% to 40%, with 1,954,442 votes for  Hochman and 1,303,243 for Gascon with most votes now counted.

Rather than take a victory lap in the leadup to taking the office next month, Hochman has instead been explaining what he plans to do. According to an AP interview with Hochman on Thursday, this includes “bringing back gang-related sentencing enhancements, allowing prosecutors to file juvenile charges more freely, having prosecutors attend parole hearings with victims’ families again, and prosecuting low-level nonviolent crimes” once again.

Hochman’s interviews

According to Hochman “Anyone who breaks the law will receive proportional consequences. No more get out of jail free cards There’s a culture of lawlessness that has been perpetrated by Gascon’s office.

“We’re going to reverse that. 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. This is my message to people who believe in criminal justice reform: I believe in it as well. The difference between myself and my predecessor is it won’t be a bunch of talk.”

He also fought back against criticism that his policies would only lead to a growing prison population once again, and that the tougher sentences and more guaranteed jail time wouldn’t deter some criminals.

“I don’t predict that you’re going to have thousands of people now going to prison,” added Hochman. “The goal is ultimately to deter them from committing the crimes in the first place. That’s when I’ll know that I’m actually doing something that is effective in the criminal justice system, not by filling prisons to the breaking point. That’s a failure of the system.”

In another interview with Fox, Hochman had also noted that “What we will do is eliminate extreme, pro-criminal policies. I reject extremes on both ends of the pendulum swing, whether it’s Gascon’s decarceration policies that said that certain crimes and certain criminals would not be prosecuted no matter the facts in the law, but also mass incarceration policies. Again, an extreme policy that says we don’t look at the facts and the law. We just want to put as many people in jail as possible. I come down at the middle and I’ve called it the hard work middle.”

He also noted that he would look harder into several cases, including the famed Menendez Brothers case, where they are currently pushing to be released.

“I’ve got to actually look at the thousands of pages of confidential prison files that I don’t have access to read, thousands of pages of transcripts from months-long trials. I’ve got to speak to the prosecutors, law enforcement, the defense victim, family members. And only then will I be in a position to determine if the current resentencing request is just that. But they won’t be released before Thanksgiving, unless Governor [Gavin] Newsom grants them clemency.”

While Hochman’s victory excited many in Los Angeles County last week, more were resting much easier this week as Hochman was making plans to follow through on what he said he would do.

“Everyone was looking for that follow through,” said LA County pollster Manny Rodriguez to the Globe on Thursday. “And look. He is speaking plainly, pointing out how some areas would be difficult or would take time, but has continued on with them. He’s being very transparent, and not like Gascon who held his cards close to his chest. There was some worry he might start to roll back on things, but based on these interviews, he’s progressing pretty quick.”

Hochman is scheduled to be sworn in as the new DA on December 2nd.