On December 3rd, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger swore in the newly elected Los Angeles County prosecutor Nathan Hochman outside the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, quoting the iconic line from the 1984 movie “The Terminator,” saying, “I’ll be back.”
The actor and former bodybuilder reiterated the promise from the movie. “Today I wear these ‘I’ll be back’ sunglasses,” Schwarzenegger said, “because the city of Los Angeles is about to come back.” Former federal prosecutor Hochman, who won the November election with a commanding lead over George Gascón, securing almost 60% of the vote with Los Angeles County’s approximately 10 million residents, was sworn in as the new prosecutor with hundreds of people, officials, and invited guests witnessing the 61-year-old Hochman’s inauguration.
Schwarzenegger expressed his excitement for Hochman becoming the next district attorney. “Nearly 56 years ago, I came to Los Angeles as an immigrant because it’s the holy land of bodybuilding, the holy land of the film industry, and the holy land of innovation. Everything here is great. But what I’ve seen in the past few years has been sad,” he said.
Since former district attorney Gascón took office in 2020, Los Angeles County residents have experienced waves of crime, including smash-and-grab robberies, retail theft, home invasion robberies, and burglaries. “It’s crazy, ladies and gentlemen,” said Schwarzenegger, “This city deserves better.”
Los Angeles City Council member Traci Park also expressed a sense of “new comfort and hope” at the ceremony. “For too long, we’ve witnessed chaos and lawlessness in Los Angeles, with the police repeatedly arresting the same criminals, only to see them back on the streets committing crimes as they please,” she said. Park pointed out that international gangs are using travel visas to partner in crime and blatantly ignore the city’s justice system.
“Our families, businesses, and communities have become the guinea pigs of this failed society experiment where crime is condoned and ‘criminals are victims, police are enemies,'” Park said, “But everything will change completely starting today.”
Hochman’s first action planned for Tuesday is to immediately terminate Gascón’s policy package, which banned prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, reduced sentencing for numerous crimes, and at times prevented prosecution for drug possession and illegal entry. He vowed to start charging cases based on facts and law, seeking a middle ground by evaluating each case individually.
“As Angelinos, we gather here representing the 10 million clients of the district attorney’s office. They want to live in a county where safety is a priority, laws are upheld, and offenders are held accountable, and the process to achieve this goal is fair, just, ethical, and efficient,” Hochman said. He also pledged to support the deputy prosecutors in his office, many of whom opposed Gascón’s policies in the past few years.
Hochman also plans to lead task forces focusing on issues like homelessness, fentanyl overdoses, human trafficking, hate crimes, organized retail crime, and residential burglaries. He intends to develop an agenda to start educating children on responsibility starting from fifth grade, informing them of the consequences of poor decisions, while also focusing on ex-convicts, “ensuring that inmates have skills upon release.”