District of Los Angeles County. Atty. Nathan Hochman said he intends to terminate the contract of a special prosecutor hired by George Gascón to reopen investigations into fatal police shootings, a move that could upend high-profile cases involving controversial killings committed by police officers.
The district attorney’s office said in a statement that it would “no longer use” the services of Lawrence Middleton, a former federal prosecutor who convicted several Los Angeles police officers of violating Rodney King’s civil rights after they were acquitted in court of State in 1991. beating of the black motorist.
Middleton was recruited by former Dist. Atty. Gascón in 2021 to reconsider charges related to four separate shootings against former Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey’s administration declined to prosecute. Middleton’s contract expires in June, but Hochman has “the option to terminate” the agreement early and is in discussions with county attorneys to do so, the district attorney’s office said.
Middleton declined to comment. It is unclear whether Hochman or members of his administration have contacted Middleton or when he will be officially removed as special prosecutor. All cases it was reviewing will now be handled by the Judicial Systems Integrity Division, the wing of the district attorney’s office that normally prosecutes cases of police and attorney misconduct.
Middleton’s hiring was an early attempt by Gascón to fulfill his campaign promises to improve police accountability measures in a prosecutor’s office that rarely, if ever, blamed police in on-duty shootings before his election. But it also helped increase tensions between Gascón and his prosecutors, who were frustrated that their decisions could be overturned by an outsider. The amount of money the county planned to spend on an independent investigator added to the tensions: Some derisively referred to the veteran prosecutor as the “Middleton millionaire.”
Records show Middleton billed the county just over $1 million between June 2021 and October 2024. The average annual salary for a Los Angeles County prosecutor is about $135,000, according to the Assn . assistant prosecutors. Middleton’s salary came directly from the prosecutor’s office budget, according to a county spokesperson.
Gascón did not respond to a request for comment.
The former prosecutor initially assigned Middleton to review four cases: the 2015 death of Hector Morejon, who was unarmed and shot in the back by a Long Beach police officer responding to a trespassing call ; the 2015 shooting of Brendon Glenn, an unarmed homeless man who was killed by an LAPD officer in Venice Beach; the 2013 shooting of Ricardo Diaz Zeferino by Gardena police; and the 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell by Torrance police.
Middleton had a hard time getting any of these cases into a courtroom. Police are far more likely to be convicted of manslaughter than murder in on-duty homicides, and the statute of limitations for the less serious crime had expired or was nearly exhausted in three of the four shootings. which Middleton was required to review when he was hired. in June 2021.
Last year, a grand jury indicted Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez on involuntary manslaughter charges in Mitchell’s death. Mitchell was sitting in a stolen vehicle in a Ralph’s parking lot in Torrance when Concannon and Chavez approached him in December 2018, prosecutors said. The officers ordered him out of the car and believed they saw a gun – which was later revealed to be a “broken barrel air rifle” – between his legs when they opened fire. Neither officer alleged that Mitchell grabbed the gun or pointed it at them before he began shooting.
The case has dragged on for more than a year and there is no trial date in sight. In August, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta denied a motion to dismiss the charges on the grounds that they were legally deficient.
Middleton argued that the officers “created the danger that led to the shooting” by unnecessarily confronting Mitchell when he posed no threat and had no way to escape arrest because the car was parked facing to a wall, according to grand jury transcripts. The officers’ defense attorneys argued that Middleton was employing a “new theory” and confusing a potential violation of police department policy with a crime.
Although Hochman’s decision to fire the special prosecutor was not a surprise — he frequently criticized Gascón for his hiring during the election campaign — police accountability advocates and supporters of Mitchell’s family were nonetheless furious.
“When former District Attorney George Gascón appointed Lawrence Middleton as special prosecutor, it was an important step toward police accountability,” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. “Middleton’s removal by Prosecutor Hochman essentially gives the cops the green light to kill our people and be as corrupt as they dare with absolute immunity.”
Concannon’s attorney, Lisa Houle, celebrated the news.
“This doesn’t surprise us at all. And when the public knows the true details of this case and the scandalous way the Gascón administration treated our client, no one else will be surprised either,” she said, without elaborating.
Concannon remains on administrative leave, according to Houle, while Chavez is no longer a police officer. Both were among 15 officers linked to a racist text message scandal within the Torrance Police Department. The Times found no evidence that Concannon and Chavez sent racist messages, but multiple sources and documents confirmed they were part of the thread and under investigation 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 fatally shot Glenn in Venice in 2015. Neither Middleton nor the district attorney’s office have commented on this case, but it is one of those that the special prosecutor was examining. Multiple sources told the Times that Proctor was going to be arrested in connection with Glenn’s death.
No criminal complaints were filed and Proctor did not appear in court. The only other way that could trigger an arrest warrant would be to obtain an indictment, as Middleton did in the only other case he brought to court during his tenure. Attempts to contact Proctor were unsuccessful.
Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor and founder of Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform, said it was concerning that Middleton’s cases were being referred to of the unit that had refused to file charges under Lacey’s administration. Given Hochman’s close ties to law enforcement, she said quickly terminating Middleton’s contract could raise alarm bells.
“He faces the challenge of reassuring the community that he will lead this office in a way that will be accountable on these issues and will not be tainted by the contributions he received that helped him win the position,” she said, referring to the millions Hochman received in financial support from law enforcement unions during the campaign.
Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said that since Hochman had direct experience prosecuting police, which Gascón lacked, he did not need an outside expert . She also questioned the return on investment county taxpayers got from Middleton’s work.
“Hochman is confident that he has experience and probably has people in his office that he can turn to and direct them appropriately,” she said. “Money matters and spending matters. He will probably come and review his budget. Hiring outside experts is often one of the first areas you revisit and eliminate.
