Craig W. Hum

Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office

Specialty: Gang homicide prosecutions

Law School: Stanford, 1986

Most of the 60 murder cases that Deputy District Attorney Craig W. Hum has handled as a prosecutor have targeted gang members. Last year, he convicted the three killers of Dr. Haing Ngor, the Cambodian freedom fighter and Academy Award-winning actor from “The Killing Fields.”

Ngor was gunned down outside his Chinatown home in a robbery that Hum says was committed by “crackhead gang-bangers.”

The year before, Hum won convictions against four gang members whose victim taught choir to elementary school students at St. James Episcopal Church downtown. On his way home after a rehearsal, the teacher stopped at a convenience store for a snack and was robbed and killed.

“It was a case of four guys looking to rob somebody for beer,” the prosecutor says.

Hum says one of the most disturbing things about gang cases is the age of defendants.

“Most of the people I’ve prosecuted are in their early 20s, and sometimes they’re younger than that. It’s very disconcerting to see people this young who’ve killed somebody,” he said. “Obviously, families have no real idea of what’s going on and don’t know their children are in the gang life. There’s a real gap there.”

The 40-year-old Hum joined the D.A.’s office after graduating from law school to practice the kind of law he could believe in and to help victims eke out justice.

Yet, gang prosecutions can be difficult because fearful witnesses often change their stories or refuse to testify. In the Ngor case, Hum had to rely on taped testimony because the witnesses recanted their accounts. Still, all three defendants were convicted and sentenced to 26 years to life without the possibility of parole.

Hum says he hasn’t been threatened, but knows he faces a degree of danger by handling such cases.

“Safety is always a concern. I take sensible precautions. You become aware of your surroundings when arriving and leaving work,” he said.

Nola Sarkisian