Nathan Hochman is no stranger to the role of prosecutor. He had a long career in the Justice Department, was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as U.S. Assistant Attorney General and, in 2022, ran as the Republican candidate for California Attorney General.
Now Hochman, running as an Independent, is trying to unseat L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón. He joined Countdown 2024 to talk about why he’s in the race.
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Hochman touted his experience as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, as well as his work spearheading the L.A. Disaster Fraud Task Force.
“In contrast, when Mayor Bass set up her smash-and-grab organized retail crime task force, she didn't even invite D.A. Gascón to the press conference because he is such a lightning rod for criminals,” he said.
As examples of Gascón's “pro-criminal” policies, Hochman pointed to two special directives instructing his deputies not to prosecute juveniles for misdemeanor theft and not to pursue gang enhancements, which disproportionately target young men of color.
Hochman said he rejected Gascón’s “extreme policies,” but also rejects “the extreme of mass incarceration.”
“Where I go back to is where even-keeled, balanced prosecutors have been called for decades, and that’s the middle, and I call it the hard middle because it requires work,” he said. “Blanket policies are inherently lazy. The hard middle requires you to look at each case individually – look at each defendant, the defendant's 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, and quite candidly, the ones that aren’t.”
He said first-time nonviolent offenders can often “pay their debt back to society” through alternatives to prison, like community service or rehab.
Gascón will get a chance to defend his record on Oct. 8, when he and Hochman face off in a live KNX News - L.A. Times debate. Tune in at 97.1 FM, or watch the livestream on KNXNews.com, the KNX News YouTube channel, latimes.com, the L.A. Times app and the L.A. Times YouTube channel.
Listen to the full episode of Countdown 2024 above to hear from Derek Tran, the Democrat running to unseat Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel in one of Southern California’s key House races. Catch new episodes live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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