Reflecting on his first 100 days in office, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman warned criminals that he’s set on persecuting them to the fullest extent of the law.
In a one-on-one interview with NBC4’s Robert Kovacik, Hochman touched upon topics that included areas of safety he’s focused on, how to protect residents impacted by January’s disastrous wildfires and his choice to withdraw the Menendez brothers’ resentencing recommendation.
See the full interview below.
Menendez brothers
Last week, the district attorney drew ire from the family of Erik and Lyle Menendez after he announced his decision to withdraw the infamous brothers’ resentencing recommendation request. During his interview with NBC4, Hochman doubled down on his actions.
“If the Mendenezes themselves want to go ahead and make a sincere, unequivocal statement, accepting full responsibility for the breath of all the lies that they have told over the past 30 years, we will certainly consider that statement,” he said.
He echoed those sentiments when he first made the announcement, saying the pair, who have been serving time behind bars for killing their parents, have not come clean about what he said are lies they’ve parroted over the past 30 years.
“Consider it in deciding whether or not they have finally shown full insight into the breadth of their criminal violations, completely accepted responsibility for those actions, which is a huge step on the path of rehabilitation,” Hochman continued. “And rehabilitation, itself, is a huge step towards actually getting resentenced.”
Post-wildfire recovery
Los Angeles County was rocked by multiple brush fires in early January, with Pacific Palisades and Altadena suffering most from the catastrophes. As the communities continue to rebuild and residents impacted by the disasters slowly recover from their losses, Hochman said he ensures his office will do all it can to prevent those residents from being victimized again.
Already the district attorney’s office began to prosecute individuals who were caught looting fire-stricken homes before residents were able to return. He said prosecutions won’t stop there; scammers posing as victims who need benefits post-fire and those posing as support entities to swipe sensitive information from impacted residents can expect to district attorney to fully punish them.
“Los Angeles County, particularly the city of Palisades and the Altadena area, is going to receive billions of dollars going forward,” Hochman said. “I will guarantee you that money is going to get ripped off at some level and we’re going to go after those criminals and throw the full book against them. If they want to truly exploit a crisis to their benefit, they’re going to do so at their peril.”
If they want to truly exploit a crisis to their benefit, they’re going to do so at their peril.”
Nathan Hochman on criminals who target wildfire victims.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman reflects on his first 100 days in office. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Monday, March 17, 2025.
100-day reflection
With 100 days in office already down, Hochman said his office has several areas of focus it’s concentrating on. Among those areas include tackling organized retail theft, home burglaries, human trafficking, homeless crimes and fentanyl poisonings.
When asked how he would grade himself based on his performance over the past 100 days, Hochman opted not to answer. He did, however, share what is most important to him in his role.
“At the end of the day if I’m doing my job, if I brought back the facts of the law as the proper measures of by which we should evaluate criminal cases and we’ve sent a very clear message to criminals, to victims, to law enforcement and to my own prosecutors, and I’ve accomplished what I’ve set out to do at this point,” he said.
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