Los Angeles DA announced hate crime charges and promises aggressive prosecution

The Los Angeles District Attorney announced a slew of hate crime cases being prosecuted, which include jail time and even a lifetime prison term.

Although the number of hate crimes is down so far this year, there is an alarming trend involving religious hate crimes, which seem to be rising. They made up just 9% of all hate crimes in the country in 2023, and so far this year, it's 23%.

Ben Hariri serves on the interfaith advisory board for the district attorney, who announced today that they are committed to tough sentences for hate crimes 

"Unfortunately, since the October 7th attacks, religious-based hate crimes against Jews have gone up in some cities 400 to 500 percent," Hariri said.

The FBI is also showing the same trend nationally. In 2021, religion-based hate crimes made up 15% of those reported nationally; so far this year, it's almost 25%.

Of the 10 hate crime cases that Hochman presented, half were religious-based crimes.

• Brian Rattliff of Los Angeles is charged with disturbing a religious meeting and child abuse for releasing tear gas near the choir of adults and children at All Saints Church in Pasadena on Easter Sunday. If convicted as charged, the 40-year-old faces up to 15 years and four months in state prison.
• Juan Carlos Estrada of Van Nuys is charged with vandalism and hate crimes for allegedly yelling racial epithets at parishioners and spray-painting a racial epithet on a car and sidewalk in front of St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in Burbank. If convicted as charged, the 48-year-old faces up to seven years and four months in state prison.
• Bruce Alfred Lion of Los Angeles is charged with hate crimes, violation of civil rights, and criminal threats. The 64-year-old allegedly yelled antisemitic threats from his Pacific Palisades balcony at his next-door neighbor, a rabbi leading a Shabbat prayer service. A mental health competency hearing is scheduled later this month.
• Jose Antonio Montes-Gutierrez Jr. of Winnetka is charged with a hate crime, displaying a Nazi symbol on private property, and vandalizing religious property with graffiti. He is accused of placing backward swastikas and antisemitic graffiti on Jewish-owned or affiliated businesses and public property near those locations in Woodland Hills and Encino. If convicted as charged, Montes-Guterrez Jr., 31,  faces up to nine years and four months in state prison.
• Cara Marie Agrusa of Los Angeles is charged with criminal threats and vandalism of religious property and arson of a structure or forest, all hate crimes. Agrusa allegedly spray-painted offensive graffiti at Islah Academy on school grounds and threw eggs at the campus. When employees confronted her, she allegedly brandished a box cutter and threatened to kill them if they intervened. The 33-year-old is also accused of assaulting a victim by discharging a fire extinguisher at them. On July 22, mental health pretrial diversion was granted. 

"Our First Amendment protects good, bad, or indifferent people saying what they want to say, no matter how violent it is, as long as it's not coupled with a criminal act, which then will make it a hate crime," Hochman said. "That's where the DA's office, that's where law enforcement can come in to bring criminal prosecutions against the hate criminals."