Los Angeles County District Atty. Nathan Hochman said he intends to terminate the contract of a special prosecutor hired by George Gascón to reinvestigate fatal police shootings, a move that could shake up preparations for controversial killings involving police officers. High profile cases.
The district attorney’s office said in a statement that it would “no longer utilize” the services of former federal prosecutor Lawrence Middleton. Convicted several Los Angeles police officers of violating Rodney King’s civil rights.
Middleton was brought in by the former division. Atty. Gascón will reconsider charges in four Front District shootings in 2021. Atty. Jackie Lacey’s administration declined to prosecute. Middleton’s contract is set to expire in June, but Hochman “has the option to terminate” the agreement early and is in discussions with county attorneys, the district attorney’s office said.
Middleton declined to comment. It’s unclear whether Hochman or members of his administration have contacted Middleton, or when he will formally terminate the special counsel. Any cases he is reviewing will now be handled by the Justice System Integrity Unit, a division of the district attorney’s office that typically prosecutes police and attorney misconduct cases.
Middleton’s hiring is an early attempt by Gascón to fulfill a campaign promise to improve police accountability measures within the prosecutor’s office, which before his election rarely charged officers with on-duty shootings. But it has also heightened tensions between Gascón and his line prosecutors, who are frustrated by the idea that their decisions could be overturned by outsiders. The amount the county plans to spend on the independent investigator has heightened tensions: Some have derided the veteran prosecutor as “Millionaire Middleton.”
Records show Middleton billed the county just over $1 million between June 2021 and October 2024. DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY. Middleton’s salary comes directly from the district attorney’s office budget, according to a county spokesman.
Gascón did not respond to a request for comment.
The former district attorney initially tasked Middleton with reviewing four cases: the 2015 death of Hector Morejon, an unarmed man shot in the back by a Long Beach police officer responding to a trespassing call; In 2015, Brendon Glenn, an unarmed homeless man, was shot and killed by an LAPD officer in Venice Beach; in 2013, Ricardo Diaz Zeferino Zeferino was shot and killed by Gardena police; and the 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell by Torrance police.
Middleton has been working to bring the cases to court. Officers are far more likely to be convicted of manslaughter than murder in on-duty killings, and in three of the four shootings Middleton was hired to review, the statute of limitations for the lesser crimes had expired or was close to expiring. June.
Last year, a grand jury indicted Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez on manslaughter charges in Mitchell’s death. In December 2018, Mitchell was sitting in a stolen car in a Ralph’s parking lot in Torrance when Concannon and Chavez approached him, prosecutors said. Police ordered him out of the car and believe they saw a gun – later discovered to be a “cut-barreled air rifle” – between his legs when they fired. Both officers claimed Mitchell grabbed the weapon or pointed it at them before they began shooting.
The case has dragged on for more than a year, with no court date yet. In August, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta denied a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing they lacked merit.
According to grand jury transcripts, Middleton argued that officers unnecessarily confronted Mitchell and “created a danger leading to the shooting,” while Mitchell posed no threat and could not because the car was parked facing a wall. Escape arrest. The officer’s defense attorney argued that Middleton adopted a “novel theory” and confused possible violations of police department policy with a crime.
While Hochman’s move to fire the special prosecutor was not surprising — he was a frequent critic of Gascón’s hiring practices on the campaign trail — police accountability advocates and supporters of Mitchell’s family are still outraged.
“When former District Attorney George Gascón appointed Lawrence Middleton as special prosecutor, it was an important step toward police accountability,” said May, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. Lina Abdullah said. “By taking out Middleton, District Attorney Hochman essentially gave police a green light to kill our people and to engage in unbridled corruption with absolute immunity.”
Concannon’s attorney, Lisa Houle, celebrated the news.
“We are not at all surprised by this. It will not surprise others when the public learns the true details of this case and the outrageous manner in which our client was treated by the Gascón administration,” she said, without providing specific details .
Hall said Concannon remains on administrative leave and Chavez is no longer a police officer. Both men are among 15 officers linked to the Torrance Police Department’s racist texting scandal. The New York Times found no evidence that Concannon and Chavez sent racist messages, but several sources and documents confirmed they were part of the text messages and are being investigated as part of the scandal.
In October, the Times reported that Los Angeles County authorities had obtained an arrest warrant for former LAPD officer Clifford Proctor, who shot and killed Glenn in Venice in 2015. and the district attorney’s office have not commented on the case, but it is one of them. Multiple sources told The Times that Proctor will be arrested in connection with Glenn’s death.
No criminal charges have been filed and Proctor has not appeared in court. The only other means that might trigger an arrest warrant is to obtain an indictment, as Middleton did in the only other case brought to court during his tenure. Attempts to contact Proctor were unsuccessful.
Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor and founder of Fair and Equitable Prosecution, a nonprofit group that advocates for criminal justice reform, said the concern is that Middleton’s case will return to the jurisdiction of the department where the Lacey administration declined to bring charges. Given Hochman’s close ties to law enforcement, she said a swift termination of Middleton’s contract could set off alarm bells.
“He faces a challenge to reassure the community that he will run the office in a way that is accountable to these issues and not tainted by the donations he received to help him win the office,” she said. Hochman received millions of dollars in financial support from law enforcement unions during his campaign.
Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said that because Hochman had direct experience prosecuting police officers and Gascocon lacked that experience, he did not need an outside expert. She also questioned the return on investment county taxpayers receive from Middleton’s work.
“Hochman felt reassured that he had experience and that he likely had people in his office who he could turn to for help and appropriate guidance,” she said. “Money matters, expenses matter. He may come in and look at his budget. Bringing in outside experts is usually one of the first areas you revisit and cut.
