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![\"Eric](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Riddick-krasner-allegations-crussell-2026-07-22-1024x768.jpeg\")
Eric Riddick, who was exonerated after serving 29 years in prison, speaks at a rally in defense of embattled DA Larry Krasner at Salt and Light Church in Kingsessing. (Carmen Russell-Sluchansky)\n<\/p>\nOther speakers included previously incarcerated individuals who credited Krasner\u2019s administration with securing their release after reviewing their convictions, such as Termaine Hicks, who served 19 years in prison before his conviction was vacated in 2020. He described Krasner as someone willing to challenge a broken system.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cKrasner\u2019s doing the right thing,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cHe\u2019s letting the right men and women out, those who are wrongfully incarcerated and innocent.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Eric Riddick, who served three decades incarcerated before being exonerated, said supporters should view the district attorney as representing broader criminal justice reform rather than a single individual.
\nEric Riddick, who was exonerated after serving 29 years in prison, speaks at a rally in defense of embattled DA Larry Krasner at Salt and Light Church in Kingsessing. (Carmen Russell-Sluchansky)\n<\/p>\n
\u201cKrasner represents an idea that\u2019s in season, called justice,\u201d Riddick said. \u201cAny time that people make ground to bring the idea of justice back in season, injustice is always behind the scenes trying to plan their comeback.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
Other speakers tied the controversy surrounding the district attorney to broader issues of racial justice, policing and incarceration.\n<\/p>\n
Dr. Bill McKinney of the New Kensington Community Development Corporation said the Supreme Court decision reflected a larger pattern of state and federal actions directed at Philadelphia. Therapist Jacqui Johnson argued that justice requires repairing harm rather than focusing solely on punishment.\n<\/p>\n
Yale University student Cayla Waddington said she worries recent developments send discouraging messages to young people while she is trying to encourage her peers to engage in the electoral process.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m noticing it\u2019s getting harder and harder for young people, people my age to \u2026 justify the fights,\u201d Waddington said. \u201cWhen we look at the city\u2019s legacy and it feels like we\u2019re fighting the same battles our grandparents and great-grandparents fought.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Although Krasner had been listed as an invited speaker, he did not address the rally. His office did not give a reason. Instead, participants framed the event as a community response to what they described as efforts by state courts and political opponents to undermine Philadelphia\u2019s elected prosecutor.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here as a community to say what they\u2019re doing affects us,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said when reporters asked about Krasner\u2019s absence. \u201cThis is wrong. The decision that\u2019s come down is impactful and we want to make sure that we\u2019re exercising our personal right to say that we disagree and we\u2019re going to continue to fight.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Other speakers included previously incarcerated individuals who credited Krasner\u2019s administration with securing their release after reviewing their convictions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[336,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-250064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-larry-krasner","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}