This newsletter was originally emailed to subscribers on November 7, 2026.
Welcome to L.A. TACO’s weekly Investigations Newsletter. I’m Lexis-Olivier Ray, the Head of Investigations for L.A. TACO.
On Thursday morning, Governor Gavin Newsom made a surprising announcement.
“State-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote in an open letter explaining his decision to commute the sentences of more than 540 California death row inmates. “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”
In Los Angeles, L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has emerged as an unlikely advocate for the death penalty.
On Thursday afternoon, after Newsom’s announcement, he doubled down and reaffirmed his commitment to pursuing death penalty cases.