Chiquita Twyman never thought she would ever get justice for her brother Ryan.
An unarmed 24-year-old man was killed in Willowbrook in June 2019 when a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy fired 34 shots into the back of his car.
Chiquita knew that the district attorney’s office rarely prosecutes law enforcement officers for excessive use of force. Even after Georges Gascón campaigned for police accountability and became district attorney, Chiquita remained skeptical.
But while Gascón has been California’s most aggressive pursuer of law enforcement misconduct during his four years as the county’s top prosecutor and has become an ally of criminal justice reform advocates, the latest public opinion If the survey numbers are true, that concern would be lost.
Nathan Hockman is likely to remove Gascón from office on Nov. 5, making the former federal prosecutor a leading candidate for law enforcement across Los Angeles County. He has raised millions of dollars from police unions and often talks about repairing relations between the district attorney’s office and local police departments.
Since 2020, Gascon has charged five police officers with on-duty shootings, including the officer who killed Ryan Twyman.
Chiquita said he once yelled, “Fuck the police,” at Gascón, a former Los Angeles Police Department police officer. But she praised the incumbent to potential voters at a rally last month.
“Mr. Gascón is the real deal, and that’s why we need him as president,” Chiquita said through tears.
But in a campaign centered on the legal disputes that marred Gascón’s first term and voter concerns about public safety, the criminal justice reform issues that got him elected after the killing of George Floyd have largely taken a backseat. There is.
“Everyone is looking at the November election in terms of the presidency, but for Angelenos the most immediate and impactful change will be the change in the DA. For the black community, it’s even bigger than Donald Trump. I say it’s a threat,’” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. “If Hockman wins, it will lead to a complete removal of police accountability. He’s been bought and paid for by these police associations.”
Hochman dismisses suggestions that he is beholden to police supporters, often repeating the cliché that “no one hates bad cops as much as good cops.”
“At the end of the day, what I bring to the table is a sense that I’m both a defense attorney and a prosecutor. I’m the one who actually prosecuted the police officer,” he said at a recent debate. “When I talk to police officers, I make it clear that if you cross the line, you will be prosecuted.”
But Hochman, who worked for years in the federal prosecutor’s office in Los Angeles before becoming a defense attorney, hasn’t prosecuted a police officer in nearly 30 years. Gascón, meanwhile, has spent three terms in San Francisco and Los Angeles, overseeing key filing decisions in use-of-force cases.
A special prosecutor hired by Gascón to review the case that former LADA Jackie Lacey declined to prosecute has filed two additional charges of police murder. An additional 38 police officers in Gascon have been charged with misconduct, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Gascón responded to the officers’ charges, but the outcome in court was mixed.
In the Twyman case, the DA’s office filed manslaughter charges against Deputy Andrew Lyons.
Authorities said police had seized a stash of illegal weapons from Ryan Twyman’s home weeks before cornering him in his Willowbrook car. Twyman did not have a gun, but Lyons and another deputy rained bullets into the rear of the car as it rolled in their direction, according to video of the incident. Video shows Lyons picking up a rifle and continuing to fire after the vehicle stopped.
Mr. Lyons entered into a plea deal and was allowed to serve only 30 days in jail.
Jurors voted not guilty in a 2021 case involving manslaughter charges against a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. The following year, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Los Angeles police officers accused of falsely labeling people as gang members. Lacey filed both lawsuits, but they fell apart on Gascón’s watch.
Misconduct and assault charges brought against police officers have been repeatedly dismissed at preliminary hearings. In a pending civil lawsuit filed last year, members of Gascón’s government are also accused of delaying decisions on police shootings for political gain.
In other cases where Mr. Gascon won convictions or secured plea deals, the sentences were likely more lenient. A Long Beach school security guard was granted the equivalent of probation last month for fatally shooting a teenage girl in the back of the head as she drove away from a crime scene. In one case, a judge blocked a motion for a prison sentence against a sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a man in 2021.
In an interview with the Times, Gascón argued that under the previous administration, officers likely would have faced no repercussions. In some cases, plea deals bar the officers from ever working as law enforcement officers in California again, which he said is an important step toward removing bad actors from police rosters. .
Gascón also noted that juries remain hesitant to convict police, and plea bargains are sometimes the best way to achieve some degree of accountability.
“We have to have a realistic view of the particular courtroom we’re in, who the judge is, what kind of decisions are being made,” he said. “Sometimes we settle for less than we would like…sometimes we recognize that we are working with a handicap and we do the best we can.”
Abdullah said those analyzing Gascón’s record in police cases should consider the reactions of families who have lost relatives to such violence.
“The sentence in the Twyman murder case was really, really light,” she said. “But when I talked to my family, it meant everything.”
Mr. Gascón sought to portray Mr. Hockman as too comfortable with law enforcement, particularly the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Law enforcement unions are spending $2.5 million to support Hochman’s candidacy, with $1 million coming from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department union. Mr. Gascon has also frequently reminded voters that Mr. Hochman defended disgraced former sheriff Lee Baca on corruption charges.
“He’s benefiting from the police union,” Gascón said. “If you look at it historically…he had a close relationship with the sheriff, more like a groupie.”
But Hochman’s most practical experience prosecuting police was actually going after corrupt L.A. sheriff’s deputies. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Hochman sought to convict defendants embroiled in Operation Big Spender, a scandal that implicated members of Congress in embezzling more than $1 million seized in drug investigations in the 1990s.
Terry Bowers, then the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said Hochman helped build the case that arose from the FBI investigation. Bowers described Hochman as an “excellent” trial lawyer and said it was much more difficult to convince juries to convict police officers in the 1990s.
“I think the public had more trust in the police back then,” Bowers said. “Each prosecutor, including Nathan, had to have his or her integrity and honesty questioned beyond doubt.”
Hochman touted his work on the case, saying the same issues he addressed 30 years ago are still relevant today.
“We needed to assess the credibility of law enforcement officers and build a case with supporting evidence and witnesses to successfully prosecute,” he said. “This same skill set is also critical when analyzing evidence and witness credibility in officer-involved shootings and excessive use of force.”
Hockman blasted recent reports that Gascon City Special Prosecutor Lawrence Middleton is expected to indict a former LAPD officer in the 2015 shooting death of a homeless man. Since the statute of limitations for manslaughter has expired, the officer will likely be tried for murder, but Hochman said that would be unfair.
But Mr. Hockman has repeatedly criticized Mr. Gascón’s hiring of Mr. Middleton, even though public records show he has filed only two lawsuits in June 2021. It has been revealed that he is asking the county for about $883,000 by April 2024, but stopped short of promising to fire Middleton if elected.
Mr. Middleton declined a request for an interview.
Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said it’s understandable that Hochman’s overwhelming support for law enforcement is “concerning” some voters.
He said Gascón has infiltrated a community that distrusts county prosecutors, but warned that shortcomings in the courtroom could overshadow those accomplishments.
“It’s a double-edged sword. It’s good to have someone willing to litigate, but that person has to be able to win the case,” she said. “At some point, the public can get frustrated if you have an incident and the officer walks away or gives you a slap on the wrist and walks away.”
Times staff writer Connor Sheets contributed to this report.
