Friday, 7 August 2026, 22:00
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the sentencing of Gerald Pitts, a Santa Monica man convicted of attempting to murder a Metro bus passenger in a hate crime attack in March 2023. The sentence reinforces the office's pledge to treat bias-driven violence as a major public safety threat.
On March 25, 2023, Santos Tejas Gonzalez boarded a Metro bus and tried to walk past Pitts to find a seat. According to the District Attorney's Office, Pitts immediately began shouting racial slurs at Gonzalez. When Gonzalez attempted to leave the bus at the next stop near Western Avenue and Exposition Boulevard, Pitts stabbed him multiple times in the abdomen, arm, hand and face.
As Gonzalez fell from the bus, Pitts kicked him repeatedly in the head while continuing to yell slurs. Gonzalez survived but suffered life-threatening injuries.
On June 16, a jury found Pitts guilty of attempted murder. Jurors also found the crime was committed willfully, deliberately and with premeditation. They added findings that Pitts personally used a knife, inflicted great bodily injury, and committed the offense based on the victim's actual or perceived nationality, race or ethnicity.
The hate crime enhancement led to the severe sentence: life plus seven years in state prison with the possibility of parole.
"A hate crime is more than just a criminal act against one person, it tears at the fibers that hold our community together," Hochman said. "These crimes are meant to intimidate entire communities and weaken the trust that holds us together."
Hochman thanked Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Illions of the Organized Crime Division and the Los Angeles Police Department for their work. He also said the office will not tolerate hate incidents and crimes and will respond with the full force of the law.
FOX LA and CBS Los Angeles covered Hochman's push to make hate crime enforcement a top priority. CBS reported that of the 10 hate crime cases presented by the DA's office, half were religious-based crimes.
The District Attorney's Office said it is handling multiple hate crime prosecutions in courts throughout the county. Hochman has also challenged court decisions that allow violent hate crime defendants to avoid standard incarceration. Earlier this year, his office won an appellate ruling overturning mental health diversion for Job Uriah Taylor, who is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and hate crime enhancements. Taylor is accused of using a metal pipe to attack people near the 5th Street Expo station in Santa Monica, including a 64-year-old man who was beaten with the pipe.
The attack took place on a Los Angeles Metro bus, a key part of the county's public transit network. The location near Western Avenue and Exposition Boulevard sits in a dense urban corridor where passengers rely on buses daily. Prosecutors and local officials stressed that hate crimes affect not only the victim but also entire communities.
California law allows enhanced penalties when a crime is motivated by the victim's actual or perceived race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics. The LA County District Attorney's Office says it has made hate crime prosecution a priority through aggressive charging, community outreach and multi-agency collaboration.
The life sentence for Gerald Pitts sends a clear signal: bias-motivated violence will be prosecuted seriously in Los Angeles County. Victims and witnesses are encouraged to report hate crimes so perpetrators can be held accountable.
