Nathan Hochman Defeats Incumbent George Gascon

A shrewd political survivor, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon Their election lives are exhausted.

The incumbent prosecutor lost his re-election bid against former Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Hochman. The race ended with the latter receiving 61.3% of the vote and the former receiving 38.7%.

Despite some high-profile moves, such as the early release of the Menendez brothers from life without parole and 30 years behind bars, Gascón’s one-term defeat was a done deal weeks ago. Hochman, a former George W. Bush appointee who is backed by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Oscar-nominated documentary director Rory Kennedy, held a double-digit lead over former San Francisco District Attorney Gascón for much of the campaign.

With no small irony, success Ryan Murphynine episodes netflix sherry Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story He was instrumental in bringing the case to the headlines again.

Revenge has been delayed a bit due to the bitter 2020 race, jackie laceyGascón’s two-term predecessor in the now deeply divided prosecutor’s office is an enthusiastic supporter of Hochman. “I support Nathan Hochman for District Attorney because I feel much less safe than I did four years ago,” Lacey said on behalf of the former Los Angeles Ethics Commissioner.

Homelessness on the streets throughout the county and a perceived increase in crime in Los Angeles have left Gascón, a self-proclaimed progressive with failed recall efforts, dogged, but they have proven to be poisonous arrows in this campaign.

Now Independent Hochman’s prosecutorial victory stands in stark contrast to the crushing defeat he suffered as a Republican at the hands of incumbent Golden State Attorney General Rob Bonta just two years ago.

Even if Gascón asks the Governor. Gavin Newsom A win for Hochman, who last week granted clemency to Erik and Kyle Menendez, could also complicate his brother’s bid to be released from prison at RJ Donovan Correctional Center near San Diego. During last month’s prosecutor debate, Hochman criticized Gascón for the “suspicious” timing of his sudden interest in the case. All indications are that the new prosecutor, who took office before a Dec. 11 hearing into possible resentments against the brothers, could show them moving significantly closer to avoiding the sentences handed down in 1996. We will examine the case carefully.

As Deadline previously reported, this doesn’t mean Hochman will hit the brakes on the Menendez case with unchallenged evidence of sexual abuse they suffered from their father. But while there’s no dispute that the brothers brutally murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, with reloaded shotguns in their Beverly Hills home in 1989, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have killed.