Los Angeles DA Nathan Hochman Reinstates Death Penalty Option

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced on Tuesday that the moratorium against prosecutors seeking the death penalty in Los Angeles County has ended, with the death penalty now back as an option for murder cases with special circumstances.

According to a statement for the L.A. County D.A.’s office, the death penalty will only be sought after much review on a case. In addition, the defense counsel will be offered “enhanced opportunities” to share information about the defendant, with a Special Circumstances Committee making a determination in the death penalty should be pursued. In addition, murder victims’ survivors’ views will be considered when the death penalty is an option. All final decisions when it comes to pursuing the death penalty are to be decided by Da Hochman.

“Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded,” said the D.A.’s office on Tuesday. “In its place, the new murder with special circumstances policy will consider pursuing the death penalty only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases. This new policy recognizes an evolving determination that the death penalty should be restricted to the most egregious sets of circumstances.”

“I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County, in consultation with the murder victim’s survivors and with full input on the mitigating and aggravating factors of each case, to ensure that the punishment sought by the Office is just, fair, fitting, and appropriate,” added Hochman on Tuesday.

While many were in favor of the death penalty returning as an option in murder cases, there was significant opposition against it on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a significant rebuke coming from the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office.

“This decision is a step backward for LA County. The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment that is racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent,” said Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia. “The death penalty doubles down on a system that has disproportionately harmed the poor and communities of color.

“Under this policy, the death penalty remains susceptible to historic systemic failures. Seeking capital punishment in even the ‘rarest’ of cases does nothing to erase the undeniable fact that the system is deeply flawed. The reality is that innocent people have been sentenced to die, and this decision risks adding more names to that tragic list. Even one time is too many to justify state-sanctioned, intentional killing. There is no preventative measure nor policy which can ever make the decision to seek death an acceptable one for a civilized society.

“Returning to the death penalty further exacerbates state and county economic challenges. The death penalty comes at a great cost to taxpayers with no impact to public safety. I urge DA Hochman to reconsider this decision and instead commit resources to programs proven to promote justice and reduce recidivism.”

His office also spoke to the Globe on Thursday.

“In LA County, we have clients who are facing homicide charges with one or more special circumstance allegations,” said the LA County Public Defender’s Office to the Globe. “Now, based on the DA’s decision, the moment such an allegation is filed, our client’s lives are at stake.

“Poor and marginalized communities are already disproportionately represented in the criminal legal system, and when faced with the ultimate penalty, they are more likely to accept any offer that spares them from death. The death penalty should never be an option in any case. History has repeatedly shown that individuals—particularly people of color—have been wrongfully convicted, sentenced to death, and later exonerated.

“Given these injustices, we urge the state to not follow suit. Because executions remain legally stalled statewide, making death sentences an option in LA County is an empty but still harmful threat. Keeping the death penalty on the table when it cannot be carried out serves no purpose other than to pressure individuals into unjust plea deals and perpetuate a broken system.”

Death penalty back in L.A. County

Earlier this week, former Los Angeles County D.A. George Gascon, who was defeated by Hochman in a landslide election last year over his poor record on crime, also denounced the reinstatement of the death penalty. Upon taking office in 2020, Gascon removed the death penalty as an option for all cases in the county.

“This is a step backward, racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent,” said Gascon. “It disproportionately harms poor and minority communities.”

Curiously, many groups around the death penalty refused to take a side or comment on the issue, likely as only a select few murder cases would have the death penalty as an option.

“At this time, DPI does not have any comment on DA Hochman’s announcement,” Death Penalty Information Center communications associate Hayley Bedard told the Globe on Thursday.

Hochman’s announcement marks a new direction for the death penalty in the state. Since the mid-2000’s, the death penalty has been largely waning in California. The state has not executed anyone since 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was executed in San Quentin Prison for three counts of murder. Former Governor Jerry Brown opposed the death penalty throughout the 2010’s, but it remained an option. However, the current Governor, Gavin Newsom, placed a halt on all executions in the state shortly after taking office in March of 2019, after promising during his campaign he would honor voters’ wishes to keep it in place.

“The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as Governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual,” said Newsom in 2019. “Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure. It has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation. It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. Most of all, the death penalty is absolute. It’s irreversible and irreparable in the event of human error.”

More recently, he has also promised to dismantle death row in San Quentin, and instead wants reform limiting prisoner sentences to life in prison. Gascon followed in his footsteps, ending the death penalty as an option in L.A. County earlier this year.

Now, with the death penalty back as an option, and a new Governor set to be elected in 2026, California could be poised to bring back the death penalty as an option, either at San Quentin or another prison in the state. Thanks to Hochman’s announcement on Tuesday, the 2026 Gubernatorial race now has another hot button issue.

The LA D.A.’s office has nonetheless been adamant that the new policy is by no means an across the board way to seek the death penalty or as a political stunt. Instead it just focuses on certain murder cases.

“The infrequency with which the death penalty will be sought in special circumstance murder cases will, in most cases, allow the District Attorney’s Office to inform the Court at an early stage that the Office is pursuing the only other sentence available under such prosecutions, a sentence of life without the possibility of parole rather than death,” added the D.A.’s office. “In addition, the standard to charge such death penalty cases at all stages of review will be beyond a reasonable doubt, not the prior standard of probable cause.”