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When President Trump deployed the National Guard last month to quell protests against immigrant raids across Los Angeles County, he argued that widespread lawlessness forced him to send troops.
A few days later, Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman stepped into the front of news cameras to announce charges against those allegedly attacking police during the demonstrations. He declined to mention Trump and the swarm of masked federal agents that rain down on parks, workplaces and schools, but tried to oppose the story of the White House’s chaos.
Noting that anxiety is limited to a small section of downtown, Hochman promised to hold legal guards accountable, disputing Los Angeles “under siege.”
Looking back at the moment in his recent interview with the Times, Hochman said he wanted to straighten the record without igniting partisan conflict.
“What I hear, read, and see is a political discourse that I am not interested in being involved,” he said. “But it is something that misunderstands what is on earth with its de facto context.”
Hochman, a former Republican who became independent last year, has pledged from the district attorney’s office to “retract politics.” He supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, but instead of regaining orders to the office that he criticized for being confused under his predecessor, he instead sticks to his self-proclaimed “hard middle.”
Federal immigration agents near MacArthur Park in the Westlake area on July 7th.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
More than six months after Hochman’s first term, prosecutors and law enforcement officials say the new district attorney has led to a “return to normalcy” after the controversial term of progressive, well-known George Gascon. By abolishing almost all of Gascon’s drastic policies, Hochman allows prosecutors to come out of justice as they think is appropriate, restoring a relative degree of harmony with itself and the office where he spent four years in the war.
But Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign is testing the limits of Hochmann’s neutrality.
When immigration agents chased and arrested two women through LA court last month, they were stripped of almost every corner of the LA legal community. But it’s not Hochman, whose tense diplomacy raised his eyebrows.
“If county prosecutors don’t take their positions, silence may appear in support in the community,” said Ricardo Garcia, LA County’s public defender.
Hochman said his office is not working with the federal government on immigration enforcement, and he would like if immigrants engage in state-level cases before they take action.
“I’m doing my best to focus on my mission as public safety. Whether the president is fighting with the governor, with the mayor, or with the person I want to embrace in political debate, there’s a lot of politics going on and there’s a lot of noise beyond that mission,” he said. “I’ve been in the way lately focusing on this office on the public safety side.”
It was the focus that Hochmann spoke up at the press conference. He recalls watching TV news and social media clips from the first weekend of protests that reflected Trump’s declaration that the city might burn out.
“You’ll swear to God, LA was under siege. I scared the first night,” he said. “I’m calling my people and saying, ‘Is this happening all over the city and the county?” ”
Superpower, Celebrity Trials, and Tough Contrasts
Hochman’s measured approach contrasts with Gascón’s, as well as his counterpart at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
During a press conference on the arrest of people allegedly attacking police during the protests last month, Hochman calmly lifted legal reasoning for various prosecutions during the politically charged events. In comparison, our atty. Bill Essayri took the microphone a few minutes later, shooting Trump Trump verbatim verbatim, then pushing forward with years of conservative suspicion that out-of-state agitators would induce violence.
Hochman spoke as a candidate about crimes in an apocalyptic tone, robbing a large amount of money from conservative megadnolls and working with donors linked to Trump, but his overhaul at the District Attorney’s Office didn’t resemble a right-wing transformation. If anything, Hochman’s orientation of law and order is consistent with statewide voter changes in criminal justice reform.
Distinguishing. Atty. Nathan Hochmann announces “aggressive behaviour” in response to retail theft at a press conference outside of 7-Eleven in May.
(Al Cebu/Because of the era)
Gascon’s reformist policy that discourages the use of cash bail and limits the use of strengthened rulings is gone. Hochman has not yet pursued it against the defendant, but the death penalty has returned to the table.
Six months after his term, data shows that Hochman is claiming felony at about the same rate Gascón did. According to an office spokesperson, the new district attorney vowed to charge more boys as adults during his campaign, but so far he has pursued a total of five cases.
After Hochman wiped out the ban on Gascons claiming certain misdemeanors, prosecutors charged nearly 70% of all low-level cases presented by police in the first half of 2025, records show. Hochman says it’s a necessary step to stop criminals, but Garcia and other supporters warn that more people will be at risk of deportation.
Hochman presents himself as a man who simply enforces the law and is often trying to get himself back on time. In his downtown office, a framed silver age comic book is by his desk, documenting the adventures of “Mr. District Attorney.” Hochman laughs when describing a 1940s hero who appears to share his straightforward approach to work.
“He doesn’t have a superpower,” says Hochman. “He’s a really good lawyer after all.”
To beat the rank and file prosecutors, Hochman filled his administration with veterans in his office. He then emphasized that he would stop by trials of large and small, from celebrity defendants to juvenile cases far from headlines.
“We’ve seen a return to normalcy, and there’s a general understanding of what our expectations are,” the sub-ward said. Atty. Ryan Arrich, chairman of the union, representing most of Hochman’s staff. “We feel that senior management understands what we do, so that we can communicate and tackle issues.”
Marilyn Manson, Brothers Menendez, Political Pitfalls
Aside from the good vibe, some of Hochman’s decisions rank Line prosecutors, leading to political pitfalls.
The office was at the wrong end of several well-known cases this year, leading some prosecutors to question why the actions of district attorneys’ even-numbered keel tend to get upset when the lights are brightest.
“He wants to be recognized, so he’s always involved in these prominent cases,” said the veteran associate district attorney, who spoke about the terms of anonymity in fear of retaliation. “Sometimes it damages the incident.”
In January, Hochman announced he would not make a rape charge against rock star Marilyn Manson about four months after he held a campaign event alongside Manson victims and about four months after he held a campaign event with Manson victims to attack the handling of Gascon cases.
During the campaign for district attorney last year, Nathan Hochman spoke with actor Esme Bianco and criticized the treatment of his opponent in the case involving singer Marilyn Manson.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
“You don’t parade people. …I found it to be very offensive,” said Lenora Claire, a former member of the District Attorney’s Office’s Victim Advisory Committee. “What was that choice other than being totally irresponsible? He hadn’t reviewed the case.”
Hochman said the case was properly handled and the prosecutors decided not to accuse him of “rooting in fact and law, not political agenda.”
Hochman’s personal involvement was also scrutinized in responsiveness to the hearing of brothers Eric and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents in a brutal shotgun murder in 1989. Each of the brothers served a life sentence with no hope of release until Gascon petitioned for their resentment last year.
Hochman’s interaction with the Menendez family brought civil lawsuits to allegations of bias and his decision to transfer the prosecutor who filed Gascón’s petition. At one hearing in May, he personally took over the argument in court, saying the brothers needed to show appropriate “insights” into their crimes.
The brothers will resent and could be released by the parole board later this year. Hochman defended his practical approach, claiming that he ultimately came out first.
“When people say they won or lost the Menendez case, we say they won. The defense was seeking immediate release through the discovery of voluntary manslaughter charges. The judge didn’t go there,” Hochmann said.
More strict writing, checked in with a lawyer
After a campaign backed by in-law enforcement rhetoric, some defense attorneys say Hochman’s election has become unnecessary offensive to prosecutors.
“They are now focusing on incarceration and high prison sentences, as opposed to probation and rehabilitation opportunities,” Attorney Damon Alimouri said.
According to court records, one of Alimouri’s clients, Gerald Miguel, is currently awaiting trial for vandalism and robbery after allegedly shattering his path to a Los Angeles home, hiding in the victim’s bathroom and screaming “call the police.”
Distinguishing. Atty. Nathan Hochmann outside Van Nuiss Court at the hearing in the case of Eric and Lyle Menendez in May.
(Damian Dovarganes/Applications)
No one was injured in the incident. Miguel had not stolen anything and had no criminal history. But Alimouri said the district attorney’s office’s only petition would send the client to state prisons.
“[The prosecutor] I said, I’m worried about the safety of the public, this guy could have done X, Y, Z,” Alimouri said of the plea negotiations. [my client] I didn’t do X, Y or Z. He rounded up in the fetal position and sought help. ”
Garcia, a public defense counsel, also expressed his dissatisfaction that Hochman’s prosecutors are fighting an attempt to bring the defendant into the county’s rapid diversion program. According to Garcia, the program has a success rate of 90%.
Hochman, who defended the use of mental health conversion programs during the campaign, says the county lacks resources to limit the use of alternative justice programs.
“Nowhere in this county has enough beds to address that whole population,” Hochman said.
Resource allocation is the job of the LA County Board of Supervisors, a panel that leans left. Hochman will not face reelection until 2028, and until then observers say his centralism could become an asset.
“The advantage of being an independent is that he can put voters in the city before political parties,” said Dan Chenour, a political communications teacher at the University of Southern California. “Anyone who has a D or r next to that name can put pressure on each party line toe.”
Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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