Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman says he intends to terminate the contract of a special prosecutor that George Gascón hired to reopen investigations into fatal police shootings, a move that could shake up high-profile cases that involve controversial killings by officers.
The district attorney’s office said in a statement that it will “no longer be using” 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 state court in the 1991 beating of the Black motorist.
Middleton was brought on by former Dist. Atty. Gascón in 2021 to reconsider charges in four separate shootings that 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 lawyers 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 what day he will officially be removed as special prosecutor. Any cases he was reviewing will now be handled by the Justice 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 deliver on campaign promises to improve police accountability measures inside a prosecutor’s office that rarely, if ever, charged police in on-duty shootings before his election. But it also contributed to growing tensions between Gascón and his line prosecutors, who were frustrated by the idea their decisions could be overridden by an outsider. The amount of money the county planned to spend on an independent investigator added to the tensions: Some derisively called the veteran prosecutor “Millionaire Middleton.”
Records show…