In a settlement, a veteran prosecutor who has been critical of District Attorney George Gascón’s reform directives dropped a defamation and harassment lawsuit against communications professional Maxwell Szabo. The lawsuit also named Los Angeles County as a defendant. Szabo’s attorneys argued that the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, failed to prove malice or harassment in his claims. However, Hatami’s lawyers filed a request to dismiss the part of the case against Szabo, which was granted by Judge Stephanie Bowick. Hatami, who is running to succeed Gascón as district attorney in 2024, has agreed to pay Szabo $17,500 in legal fees as part of the settlement.
Szabo, who consulted for the committee to elect Gascón and defended his policy proposals, was accused by Hatami of defaming him in four instances: calling him a “rogue DA” on Twitter, questioning his fitness to practice law on television, calling him a “liar” during a council meeting, and describing a televised photo of Hatami as a “portrait of fearmongering.”
Hatami’s suit, filed in September 2021, alleged that the alleged hostile work environment and retaliation against him continued as he voiced his criticisms of Gascón’s changes, which include ceasing the enforcement of California’s three-strikes law and ending the use of the death penalty. Szabo’s anti-SLAPP motion, brought under a law aimed at protecting First Amendment rights, will no longer be heard in court.
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