Hatami, a prosecutor with the Complex Child Abuse Unit at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, has spoken out against the policies of District Attorney George Gascón.
Jonathan Hatami, a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, announced Wednesday his candidacy for the district attorney’s office in the 2024 election. Hatami, who has prosecuted several high-profile cases against the parents of children tortured and murdered, he promised “truth and justice about politics” on his campaign website and in a video announcing his candidacy for office.
In his announcement video, Hatami criticized incumbent District Attorney George Gascón for his policies, stating that “in the midst of our public safety crisis, I have seen the failures of our elected leaders who promised to do better but only ended up getting things done. worse.”
Hatami, a prosecutor in the Complex Child Abuse Unit at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, has spoken out against Gascón’s policies, which have drawn criticism from various groups. In 2020, Gascón ordered Hatami to drop charges against a father accused of torturing and murdering his young daughter, which Hatami publicly criticized.
Gascón, a criminal justice reformer who opposes the death penalty and excessive incarceration of people of color, narrowly defeated incumbent Jackie Lacey in the 2020 election. However, he faced two unsuccessful recall petitions. in 2021 and 2022 for being perceived as soft on crime.
Hatami, a survivor of child abuse, says that personal experiences prompted him to dedicate his life to helping abused and neglected children. He has worked on thousands of complex domestic violence, hate crime and homicide cases, as well as physical and sexual abuse cases involving children. Hatami was a prosecutor in the trial against the mother of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernández and his boyfriend, who are now serving prison terms for torture and murder.
If elected, Hatami says he plans to prioritize public safety by implementing strategies to prevent crime, keep the peace, hold violent criminals accountable and set a path to success for low-level criminals. He graduated from California State University-Northridge and the University of Nebraska School of Law, and served as an Assistant District Attorney in various locations before being selected to serve in the nation’s first Complex Child Abuse unit in the Los Angeles Hall of Justice in 2016.
