Justice Hanasono stresses clear, accessible opinions

Justice Mark K. Hanasono of the 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected an attempted murder defendant's argument that an openly gay victim's unwanted advances warranted an instruction on attempted voluntary manslaughter.

Eliseo Martinez held the victim down in a parked minivan while his cousin stabbed him 18 times. Writing for a unanimous panel in People v. Martinez (2024), Hanasono found insufficient evidence of provocation or strong emotion to justify the instruction.

Penal Code Section 192(f)(1) bars treating provocation as objectively reasonable when it stems from knowledge of a victim's sexual orientation, including an unwanted nonforcible advance. Even under Martinez's account, the advances were not forcible, particularly "against two adult men who ably overpowered him," Hanasono wrote.

Voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to retain Hanasono for the eight years remaining in his predecessor's term. Nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom, he was confirmed in June 2025.

Hanasono wrote Martinez and People v. Rushing (2025) while a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sitting by assignment on Division 3.

In Rushing, he held that a Fudge Town Mafia Crips member convicted of second-degree murder in a 2007 beating was ineligible for resentencing under Penal Code Section 1172.6 because the jury had not received a complete instruction on the natural and probable consequences doctrine.

"Every opinion we write is an opportunity to explain -- not just decide," Hanasono said in an email about appellate work. "If our rulings aren't clear or accessible, they're not useful."

His civil opinions include Saldivar v. Entravision Communications Corp. (2026), an unpublished Sept. 2 ruling refusing to compel arbitration of a former executive's sex discrimination and retaliation suit. Affirming on a different ground than the trial court, Hanasono found the agreement unconscionable. It covered "any existing, currently pending and/or future claim," extended to claims against clients and vendors and had no expiration date. Relying on Cook v. University of Southern California (2024), he rejected the company's argument that employment-related examples narrowed the agreement. "'Any' means any," he wrote.

His path to public defense began with his grandparents' experience during World War II. His mother's family was sent to the Manzanar War Relocation Center, and his father's family left California for Colorado rather than enter a camp. Reading "Farewell to Manzanar" in seventh grade started him asking questions.

As a law clerk in the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, researching redress claims by Japanese Americans, he came across Denver police records showing where his father's family had been required to register.

A Georgetown University Law Center graduate, Hanasono joined the Los Angeles County public defender's office in 2000. He spent 13 years as a public defender and alternate public defender, specializing in gang cases.

Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2013. He spent nearly 12 years in the Criminal Division, presiding over felony trials and serving as an assistant supervising judge.

Lawyers on both sides praised his courtroom when he left it in 2025. "His rulings are consistently thoughtful and fair, and he ensures that both sides always have a full and fair opportunity to be heard," Deputy District Attorney Anthony M. Ellis said. Deputy Public Defender Eric M. Lofgren said, "Even when I disagreed with him, I could always see where his logic was coming from. There was always a sense of fairness."

His trial experience shapes how he reads a record, Hanasono said. "Trial judges are working in real time. As an appellate judge, you only see what's written. But when you've been on the other side, you can read between the lines."

Hanasono has taught a judicial externship seminar at UCLA School of Law and co-chairs the 2nd District's summer judicial externship program. He also has taught judges felony sentencing and evidence, and criminal law and procedure at Glendale University College of Law, where his father earned a law degree.