Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman has decided to reinstate the option for county prosecutors to seek the death penalty, overturning the ban set by the previous DA, and thereby fulfilling a campaign pledge.
The district attorney’s office announced on Monday that the death penalty would be sought only in “exceedingly rare cases” and in instances that are deemed “most egregious.”
“I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County,” stated Hochman.
In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on the death penalty, and the last person executed in the state was in 2006. Governor Newsom’s term concludes in January 2027, and he is not eligible for reelection.
According to the new policy in Los Angeles, defense lawyers will have the chance to present information about defendants when the death penalty is under review. Additionally, survivors of murder victims will also be given a voice to share their perspectives.
Hochman emphasized that irrespective of the governor’s stance, as long as the death penalty is permissible under California law, “the district attorney has to do his job and put the death penalty on the table for consideration.”
He cited instances such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School and the 2017 Las Vegas mass shootings as extreme cases where the death penalty could be appropriate.
California law allows for the death penalty to be sought in cases of murder with special circumstances, which includes multiple victims or if a law enforcement officer is killed.
The death penalty’s removal was one of the initial reforms introduced by former DA George Gascón in 2020. He argued that it was intertwined with racism and did not effectively deter crime. Gascón also initiated a review of all condemned inmates from LA County with the aim of overturning their death penalty sentences.
Hochman replaced Gascón last year, reflecting a shift in voter sentiment in the state against progressive district attorneys and comprehensive justice policy reforms.
Campaigning on the promise to bring back the death penalty for extreme cases, Hochman reassured voters of this intention.
Jess Farris, a senior policy counsel at the ACLU of Southern California, criticized the move, describing the death penalty as a “failed and cruel policy relic.”
“The issues that have driven L.A. voters to repeatedly reject the death penalty still ring true: the incompetent attorneys often defending death penalty cases in L.A. County, its legacy of discriminatory and arbitrary use, its proven failure to deter capital crimes, its tragic fallibility, and its endorsement of brutality and murder as solutions to complex problems,” Farris commented.
Currently, California has 592 inmates on death row, with 206 of them originating from LA County. Many have been relocated from the death row at San Quentin State Prison to be housed with the general inmate population in other maximum-security facilities.