Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Thursday that he had selected a new special prosecutor to review police misconduct cases, as well as review shootings and alleged misconduct by police and other law enforcement.
Who is the new special prosecutor?
Michael Gennaco, a former federal prosecutor and one-time Sheriff’s Department watchdog, was appointed by Hochman. The district attorney said Gennaco will be empowered “to reexamine evidence and, where warranted by the facts and law, pursue criminal charges against law enforcement officers.”
Gennaco, whose decisions will be subject to review by Hochman, told LAist there’s always been “the perception, if not the reality” that the district attorney’s office is not objective on police misconduct cases because it works so closely with police.
Gennaco said he would provide “a level of objectivity and distance.”
What are his qualifications for the job?
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office called Gennaco “among the nation’s foremost experts in civil rights and police misconduct cases,” according to a news release.
As a former chief of the Civil Rights Section for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, Gennaco prosecuted police misconduct cases. He also was the chief attorney of the Office of Independent Review for Los Angeles County, which included watchdogging the Sheriff’s Department.
He has performed several monitoring tasks, audits and reviews for a federal judge, special masters, and other governmental entities, according to his website.
What Hochman said about the appointment
The district attorney said in a news release his office is working to “to ensure transparency and accountability while strengthening public confidence in our justice system,” and that this appointment was aimed at furthering that goal…