Who should be the next DA of L.A.?
Tough compassion of Jonathan Hatami deserves support
While there are a number of well-qualified candidates running for Los Angeles County district attorney, the candidate who has most impressed me is Jonathan Hatami.
Hatami has been a prosecutor in the D.A.'s office for more than 17 years and has handled thousands of cases, specializing in child abuse cases. As a child, he was himself abused by his father. His parents divorced, he was raised by a single mom, and he became what he described as a “troubled teen.” After graduating high school he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving for seven years before going on to attend junior college at College of the Canyons, transferring to CSUN and then earning a scholarship to law school at the University of Nebraska.
That personal background has made Hatami an interesting mix of empathy and toughness.
These qualities were on display when protesters disrupted the Westside Bar Association's D.A. candidates debate, held in Beverly Hills on Feb. 8.
The incident began with a question from the audience. Emma Rivas, whose son was shot dead four years ago by a gang member who was on parole, confronted incumbent District Attorney George Gascón over his decision to remove sentencing enhancements that would have kept her son's killer in prison longer. The case had first been filed with gang and gun enhancements when Jackie Lacey was district attorney.
Gascón gave a meandering answer about what he called “sustainable safety.” When moderator Elex Michaelson asked him, “Why take away the discretion?” Gascón asserted, “The discretion hasn't been taken away.”
Hatami asked for the microphone. “So, for all of you who don't know, that's Emma,” he said, indicating the questioner in the audience. “And what George Gascón just said was a straight-out lie. You may agree or disagree with his policies, and I respect that. But you don't stand up here and straight-up lie to everybody here in the audience. That is a lack of integrity. And so, when George Gascón took office, Eric [Siddall, prosecutor and candidate] knows this, he ordered all of us to remove allegations and enhancements on every single case. There was no discretion .... ”
A protester interrupted him to scream that enhancements are “racist.”
“No,” Hatami said. “It wasn't racist. Ask Emma. I'm a person of color, Emma's a person of color...”
The shouting from the audience resumed. Order was eventually restored and Michaelson tried to move the debate along.
“I'm not done,” Hatami said. “Emma is a person of color, her son was a person of color, and he was murdered. It's not racist when you're fighting for justice for individuals.”
More shouting and screaming.
“I'm not done,” Hatami repeated. “An
thony Avalos was tortured and murdered by his mom and her boyfriend.” [Gascón] ordered me to remove the special circumstance of intentional murder by torture. That's 100% fact. A little girl named Eternity, a four-year-old girl who was African American, was tortured and murdered by her mom. He ordered me to remove strikes on that case. Eric knows that, he stood up and helped me on that case. [Gascón] didn't look at the facts, he didn't look at the evidence, he didn't talk to the family members, he didn't talk to the police officers, he didn't talk to the prosecutors. He ordered us to remove them on all these cases. When children are tortured and murdered, when children are killed, it's our job as district attorneys to stand up and fight for them and make sure they get justice. And he didn't do that.”
Throughout, Hatami spoke calmly and deliberately, stayed focused on the facts and the job, and didn't back down despite the bullying from protesters.
These are useful skills in Los Angeles.
What most impressed me about Hatami was his detailed and nuanced description of how the job of D.A. could and should be done, using appropriate prosecutorial discretion to reach a just outcome in every individual case instead of imposing sweeping policies to achieve a statistical or collective goal.
It's the D.A.'s job to “enforce the law, fairly, justly,” not to “take over the law,” he told our editorial board. State lawmakers have enacted sentencing enhancements, and Hatami supports them. “If you torture and rape a child or use a gun you should go to prison,” he said, “It is important to have longer prison sentences for using a gun or hurting a baby.”
On the subject of police misconduct prosecutions, Hatami said the public must feel confident that “we're holding everyone accountable,” but he was critical of Gascón's use of “biased prosecutors” and “press conferences that give false impressions.”
On the problem of organized retail theft, he said prosecutors currently have tools, even without changes to the law, such as filing conspiracy or grand theft charges and bail deviation motions.
Hatami said the time for prosecutors to exercise discretion is after the case is filed, not before. “There should be no blanket policies. We should follow the law,” he told us, “and we should never sacrifice public safety.”
Jon Hatami has the experience, the temperament, the skills and the focus to restore public confidence in the Los Angeles District Attorney's office. He has my vote.