Jonathan Hatami

Jonathan “Jon” Amir Hatami (born December 15, 1969) is an American prosecutor serving as a Deputy District Attorney in the Complex Child Abuse Unit in the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney . 
Hatami was born in Manhattan, New York. In 1974, his family moved to Florida after his mother kidnapped Hatami and his brother because of a custody dispute. In 1975, his family relocated to North Hollywood, California and then eventually settled in Santa Clarita, California. After graduating high school in 1989, he joined the United States Army, first becoming an Infantry (11B) soldier, then transferring to the Military Police Corps (United States) (95B). He rose through the ranks from Private (rank) to staff sergeant before earning an Military discharge. 
After leaving the Army, he earned his Associate Degree from Monterey Peninsula College, achieving highest honors, his Bachelor of Arts from California State University Northridge, where he graduated cum laude, and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska College of Law with distinction. He clerked one year for Judge Richard Sievers of the Nebraska Court of Appeals and then moved back to California to begin practicing civil law. After growing dissatisfied with the direction of his career, Hatami applied to and was hired by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office by District Attorney Steve Cooley. 
During his tenure in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, Hatami has handled thousands of child physical and sexual abuse cases and has been responsible for the prosecution of 77 felony jury trials including the torture and murder of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. His work on the Gabriel Fernandez case was profiled in the Netflix documentary The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez.
==Early life and education==
Jonathan Hatami was born on December 15, 1969 in New York, New York. His father was originally from Iran and emigrated to the United States. His mother was born in Brooklyn, New York. Hatami is the oldest of five siblings. Growing up, Hatami suffered profound child abuse at the hands of his father. Recalling that period of his life he said, “I know what it feels like to be powerless.” Hatami’s father would scream at him, call him names, hit him, yank him by his hair and smash him into walls in their apartment. 
Eventually, his parents separated and battled for custody of their children. His mother was granted temporary custody. Fearing that Hatami’s father would flee with the children back to Iran, his mother kidnapping him and his brother and flew to Florida. She left her two children in the custody of a stranger who further abused them. After a month in Florida, Hatami’s mother came back for them and the family moved to California.
Meanwhile, Hatami’s father searched for his missing children, contacting the NYPD, FBI, and other groups that help find missing children. This led to Hatami and his brother being listed as missing children in an edition of Ladies’ Home Journal. In the early 1980’s, someone recognized them, leading to a reunion with Hatami’s father. 
In spite of the abuse he suffered growing up, Hatami graduated Canyon High School (Santa Clarita).
==Military Service==
After graduating high school in 1989, Hatami enlisted in the United States Army as a private. He spent seven years in the Army and rose through the ranks to become a Staff Sergeant. During his time in the military, Hatami was stationed in South Korea, went to Panama, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base during the 1991 Haitian refugee crisis, and Los Angeles during the 1992 1992 Los Angeles riots . 
In the Army, Hatami was able to come to terms with the fact that he was a child abuse victim. He decided then that he wanted to do something meaningful in his life to help abused and neglected children
==Civil Attorney==
After completing his stint in the Army, Hatami returned to California and enrolled in junior college at the College of the Canyons. It was during college that he developed his interest in criminal justice. After completing junior college, Hatami transferred to California State University Northridge. After receiving a full scholarship, he then went on to law school at the University of Nebraska, graduating with his J.D. in 2002.
Upon graduation, Hatami clerked for Judge Sievers of the Nebraska Court of Appeals for one year. Then, he moved back to Los Angeles, California to practice law as a civil attorney. During this time, his firm opened offices in New York, so he left California and went to New York to practice law for a year. He eventually moved back to California, to continue his practice.
==Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney==
In 2006, after three years of practice as a civil attorney, Hatami found himself growing unhappy with the direction of his career. After considering many careers including a police officer or an FBI agent, he applied for an opening in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. District Attorney Steve Cooley hired Hatami and he began working in East Los Angeles, then El Monte, and then Van Nuys before getting his permanent assignment in the Antelope Valley. As a senior trial attorney with 16-years in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Hatami has prosecuted 77 felony trial and 12 misdemeanor jury trials. Throughout his time in office, he has also handled thousands of child physical and sexual abuse cases. 
==The Murder of Gabriel Fernandez==
On May 22, 2013, 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was rushed to Antelope Valley Hospital and then flown to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles covered from head to toe in injuries. Two days later Gabriel was declared brain dead and taken off life support. His mother, Pearl Fernandez and her live-in boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre were arrested and charged with the 8-year old’s torture and murder. 
In September 2017, the trials of Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre commenced. After four months, Isauro Aguirre was found guilty first degree murder with a special circumstance of torture and was sentenced to death. In order to avoid the death penalty, Pearl Fernandez pled guilty to all charges and allegations, agreeing to waive all her appellate rights, in exchange for life without the possibility of parole.
In April 2021, due to the election of current District Attorney George Gascon, Pearl Fernandez applied to be re-sentenced under California Penal Code Section 1170.95, an addition to the Penal Code created in September 2018 with the passage of SB 1437, which created stricter parameters around the application of felony murder. Her petition was denied by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli in June of that year.
==The Killing of Anthony Avalos==
In 2018, two weeks after the sentencing of Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre, Hatami received a call from an Antelope Valley Hospital nurse. The nurse told him that what happened to Gabriel happened again to another little boy. 10-year-old Anthony Avalos was found dead in the home of his mother, Heather Barron, and her live-in boyfriend, Kareem Leiva . Both Barron and Leiva were eventually arrested and charged in the 10-year old’s torture and murder. Reflecting on how receiving the news made him feel, Hatami said “… it was just very disappointing, deflating, sad...”
Anthony’s trial is set to commence in the fall of 2022. Although originally a death penalty case, per the directives of current District Attorney George Gascón, the death penalty was taken off the table . 
==The Death of Noah Cuatro==
In 2019, 4-year-old Noah Cuatro was found dead in his apartment. His parents claimed he drowned in the pool of his apartment complex. Both his mother, Ursula Juarez, and father, Jose Cuatro, were eventually arrested and charged in the 4-year old’s torture, sexual assault, and murder. The case is still ongoing.
==Other Notable Cases==
Other cases Hatami prosecuted include, the case of Renoir Valenti, an Antelope Valley youth soccer coach convicted of molesting over 15 young boys over a period of 17 years, the case of Elijah McKain, a 2-1/2-year old boy who was beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend, the case of Joseph Cornett, an HIV and HPV positive man convicted of raping multiple teenage girls and the case of Anthony Williams, a 23-month-old boy beaten and tortured to death by his mother and boyfriend. 
==The Recall Movement==
On November 6, 2020, George Gascón defeated incumbent District Attorney Jackie Lacey. The day he arrived in office, Gascón issued a sweeping set of special directives for the Deputy District Attorney’s in his office. These directives include, not charging a litany of misdemeanor crimes, abolishing the filing of special circumstances , abandoning crime victims in parole hearings , not alleging strikes, implementing $0 bail for all misdemeanors and many nonviolent felonies, including child abuse and domestic violence , not charging gun and gang allegations, banning the death penalty in all cases regardless of evidence, disallowing all transfers of 16 and 17 year-olds to adult court and creating a re-sentencing unit to re-sentence convicted criminals who have currently served 15 years.
On December 15, 2021, Hatami was ordered by Gascón to remove allegations and strike priors in the case of Eternity, a little girl who was tortured and murdered by her parents. Finding this unconscionable, he refused and was the first Deputy District Attorney to come forward and speak out in an interview with Rob Hayes of KABC-TV. This helped launch a movement to recall Gascón which is ongoing. 
==Personal Life==
Hatami is married to Roxanne, a sheriff’s detective in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He met her in an Antelope Valley court when she was a bailiff. They have 2 children.
Hatami is a man of faith and considers that to be a driving factor in the work he does in the District Attorney’s office. He is a Christian and attends Lancaster Baptist Church. 
Category:1969 births
Category:American prosecutors 
Category:People from Manhattan 
Category:California State University, Northridge alumni