Murder might get you the death penalty in Los Angeles.
Lost Angeles County’ new district attorney, Nathan Hochman ended his progressive predecessor’s blanket ban on capital punishment this week.
“Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release.
Under California law, prosecutors may only seek the death penalty for murder with special circumstances, which can include multiple homicides, murder of a police officer, or murder of a witness to another crime.
Prosecutors should seek the death penalty “only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases,” and it should be “restricted to the most egregious sets of circumstances” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said.
The only other possible sentence for murder with special circumstances is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County, in consultation with the murder victim’s survivors and with full input on the mitigating and aggravating factors of each case, to ensure that the punishment sought by the Office is just, fair, fitting, and appropriate,” Hochman said in a statement.
However, the new death penalty policy may not have any practical effect yet since Governor Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium on all executions back in 2019 and closed the state’s main execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
Hochman, a former federal prosecutor campaigned on reinstating the death penalty when he ran for district attorney last year, even comparing Los Angeles to “Gotham City” with its “rampant crime.”
Hochman defeated his progressive predecessor, George Gascon, in a landslide in November. Gascon had previously narrowly avoided a recall.
Gascon was criticized as soft on crime amid rising crime in Los Angeles County. Critics pointed to cases where violent criminals, including murder convicts, were released onto the streets.
Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia criticized the new death penalty policy, calling it a “step backward” and saying the death penalty is “a cruel and irreversible punishment that is racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent.”
California has nearly 600 inmates on death row, the most of any state, but it has not executed anyone since 2006.
More than half of U.S. states still allow the death penalty, although 23 states have abolished it.
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Murder might get you the death penalty in Los Angeles.
Lost Angeles County’ new district attorney, Nathan Hochman ended his progressive predecessor’s blanket ban on capital punishment this week.
“Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release.
Under California law, prosecutors may only seek the death penalty for murder with special circumstances, which can include multiple homicides, murder of a police officer, or murder of a witness to another crime.
Prosecutors should seek the death penalty “only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases,” and it should be “restricted to the most egregious sets of circumstances” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said.
The only other possible sentence for murder with special circumstances is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County, in consultation with the murder victim’s survivors and with full input on the mitigating and aggravating factors of each case, to ensure that the punishment sought by the Office is just, fair, fitting, and appropriate,” Hochman said in a statement.
However, the new death penalty policy may not have any practical effect yet since Governor Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium on all executions back in 2019 and closed the state’s main execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
Hochman, a former federal prosecutor campaigned on reinstating the death penalty when he ran for district attorney last year, even comparing Los Angeles to “Gotham City” with its “rampant crime.”
Hochman defeated his progressive predecessor, George Gascon, in a landslide in November. Gascon had previously narrowly avoided a recall.
Gascon was criticized as soft on crime amid rising crime in Los Angeles County. Critics pointed to cases where violent criminals, including murder convicts, were released onto the streets.
Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia criticized the new death penalty policy, calling it a “step backward” and saying the death penalty is “a cruel and irreversible punishment that is racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent.”
California has nearly 600 inmates on death row, the most of any state, but it has not executed anyone since 2006.
More than half of U.S. states still allow the death penalty, although 23 states have abolished it.
“}]]
