Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan made a rare appearance on the witness stand Thursday in the case of a former Allentown Police Department vice officer accused of raping prostitutes.
Holihan was called as a defense witness in the case of Jason Krasley, who is challenging his arrest and claiming prosecutorial misconduct. Krasley’s attorney is trying to convince a judge that Eric Dowdle, Holihan’s former first assistant DA, conspired with other police officers who were filing a whistleblower suit to prosecute Krasley as a way to shore up their potentially lucrative civil case.
Dowdle, who took the stand last week, denied that allegation and testified that he was unfairly made a scapegoat when the case against Krasley began to unravel.
Under questioning by defense attorney James Burke, Holihan said Dowdle initiated the case against Krasley and withheld information about meetings he had with the officers filing the whistleblower suit.
“Eric started with a suspect and built a case around him,” Holihan said.
Although Dowdle denied that he stood to gain a referral fee from the officers’ civil attorneys if the whistleblower suit against the Allentown Police Department was successful, Holihan still found Dowdle’s involvement problematic.
“The expectation of a payout is important in my determination,” Holihan testified.
Two officers filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the department in August 2024, claiming retaliation, racism and a failure to address other officers’ inappropriate behavior. The lawsuit was later dismissed.
The DA said Dowdle failed to disclose other potential conflicts of interest, including the fact that, as a defense attorney in the years before he joined the DA’s office in 2024, Dowdle represented victims and witnesses who would later become part of the Krasley case.
Holihan said he questioned Dowdle about these conflicts, but was unable to get a straight answer.
“He is evasive to the point of dishonesty,” Holihan said. “Trying to get a straight answer out of Eric Dowdle is like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle and the picture on the box keeps changing.”
Earlier in the hearing, Dowdle’s former paralegal testified that Dowdle — who advertised his firm as “Thug Law” and gave out T-shirts with brass knuckles on them one Christmas — had a close relationship with several Allentown police officers who frequently tipped him off about arrests so he could get clients.
Holihan described “odd” requests Dowdle made, including asking the DA to intervene when a vice officer’s phone was confiscated. Dowdle also asked permission to pursue charges against a former police cadet who accused an officer of sexual assault years ago, Holihan said. The request was denied.
The DA said Dowdle reveled in conspiracy theories and believed that the Allentown Police Department was rife with corruption. After he learned about Dowdle’s alleged lies involving the Krasley case, Holihan said, he told Dowdle to resign or he would be fired.
The state attorney general’s office is now handling Krasley’s case. Prosecutors say Krasley threatened sex workers with additional criminal charges if they didn’t perform sex acts. The crimes allegedly occurred between 2011 and 2015. One of the women was seven months pregnant and went into labor as a result of being assaulted, prosecutors said.
Krasley, 49, of Upper Milford Township, denies the charges. He is free on bail.
The hearing before Lehigh County Judge Thomas M. Caffrey resumes in December.