Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman is allowing county prosecutors to seek the death penalty again, reversing a ban put in place by his predecessor and making good on a campaign promise.
The county prosecutorial office said Monday the death penalty will be pursued only in “exceedingly rare cases” and the “most egregious."
“I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County,” Hochman said in a statement.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on the death penalty in 2019, and the last prisoner executed in the state was in 2006. The governor's term ends in January 2027 and he isn't eligible for reelection.
Under the new policy in LA, defense attorneys will be given opportunities to share information about defendants when the death penalty is under consideration, and survivors left behind by murder victims will also be able to share their views.
Hochman said regardless of what the governor does, as long as the death penalty was allowed under California law, “the district attorney has to do his job and put the death penalty on the table for consideration.”
He pointed to two examples of extreme cases where the death penalty could be an option, both in different states: the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.
Under California law, the death penalty can only be sought if someone is charged with murder with special circumstances, which can include killings where there are multiple victims or if the victim is a law enforcement officer.
Removing the death penalty was one of the first changes implemented by former DA George Gascón when he took office in 2020. In a special directive, he called it “inextricably intertwined” with racism and said executions did not deter crime. He also said his office would conduct a thorough review of all condemned inmates from LA County with the goal of lifting their death penalty sentences.
Gascón was ousted by Hochman last year, reflecting growing discontent in the state with progressive district attorneys and criminal justice policy changes.
During his campaign, Hochman vowed to bring back the death penalty option for extreme cases.
Jess Farris, senior policy counsel at the ACLU of Southern California, said the punishment is part of “failed and cruel policy relics LA has already left behind."
“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 said.
California currently has 592 condemned inmates, with 206 of them from LA County. A majority have been transferred from the former death row at San Quentin State Prison to be housed with the general population at other maximum security prisons.
This story has been updated to correct that the last prisoner executed in California was in 2006, not 2016.
FILE - Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman speaks at a news conference in Los Angeles, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The most important Republican in New Jersey's race for governor this year might well be a part-time resident of Bedminster who burnished his reputation and his brand near the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
“Donald Trump is the X factor in this GOP primary,” said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship. “His endorsement right now could make or break, depending on to whom he gives it.”
But in a state that has long leaned Democratic, the president's endorsement in the June 10 primary could complicate things in a general election, where the winner of a six-person Democratic field awaits.
That may explain why one Republican candidate, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, has criticized Trump over his pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and why two other leading contenders have sought the president's support without much fanfare.
Still, in one of only two states with a race for governor this year — Virginia is the other — the general election will be closely watched for clues about whether blue state voters have been won over or repelled by Trump’s leadership. Trump, who built his brand as an Atlantic City casino owner and still owns property in New Jersey, including the Bedminster golf club, narrowed the margin between 2020 and 2024 but still lost the state, and Democrats maintain firm control.
Some Republicans think that's changing.
The GOP field dwindled from five candidates to four this past week when Ed Durr, a former state senator and vocal Trump supporter, dropped out. Durr made national news in 2021 when he shocked state Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat, by winning in their southern New Jersey district. A furniture truck driver new to elected office, Durr said in a statement he was ending his campaign so radio host and fellow Trump supporter Bill Spadea could defeat “never Trumpers” in the race.
Both Spadea and Jack Ciattarelli, the 2021 GOP nominee for governor who lost by roughly three percentage points to term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, have said critical things of Trump in the past, but both have embraced him lately.
Ciattarelli met with the president last week. Chris Russell, his campaign strategist, declined to discuss details of the meeting, but said Ciattarelli welcomes the president’s support if he should give it. A message seeking comment was left with Spadea’s campaign.
Mario Kranjac, the former two-term mayor of the suburban New York City town of Englewood Cliffs and a recent entrant into the race, said he thinks he is the most Trump-aligned candidate because he never wavered in his support for Trump during the president's first term.
“The residents and citizens and taxpayers of New Jersey need a governor with fixed values and beliefs, and that’s me -- in terms of everything that I stand for and that President Trump stands for,” he said in a phone interview. “They shouldn’t have to worry that when something happens, their candidate is going to abandon President Trump, which I would never do.”
Part of the challenge for Republicans is that the value of Trump's support is a moving target. The first two months of his second term as president may have alienated some voters but won others over. Anticipating how much value Trump could add to the campaign when voters cast their primary ballots is guesswork, with circumstances changing by the day.
In the pre-Trump era, some Republicans successfully navigated the shoals between the primary and the general elections. While Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey in more than five decades, they have enjoyed more success in governor's races. The last three Republicans elected governor — Thomas Kean Sr., Christine Todd Whitman and Chris Christie — all won two consecutive terms. But their brand of politics included business-friendly conservatism, hardly the same as Trump's aggressive populism.
Democrats remain the dominant party in the state, but some Republicans say that hold is slipping. Russell, Ciattarelli’s strategist, points to the registration gains the GOP has made, shaving the Democrats’ advantage from 1 million more voters to 834,000 more.
He said Democrats should not be overconfident in their traditional advantages.
“I think they’re missing the lesson of the 2024 election in New Jersey, which is Donald Trump did exceedingly well in New Jersey,” he said.
The weight of Trump’s influence lingers as one of the lessons the GOP took from 2024. That much seemed evident in Durr's withdrawal from the race.
In his statement announcing the decision, Durr said he was ending his campaign so Spadea could prevail. Soon after, Durr said his statement was not actually an endorsement. Steve Kush, a Durr spokesperson, explained the distinction and, in the process, reflected who the big dog is in the primary.
“He doesn’t want to use the word endorse because he doesn’t want to get ahead of President Trump,” Kush said.
FILE - Former state senator Ed Durr speaks following the first Republican debate, Feb. 4, 2025, at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. (AP Photo/Mike Catalini, File)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump walks after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
