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The Philadelphia District Attorney\u2019s Office said Thursday that the two prosecutors who accused DA Larry Krasner of encouraging them to act unethically<\/a> in a controversial appellate case did so in a court filing that was both unauthorized and \u201cill-informed.\u201d<\/p>\n In a court document filed late Thursday, written by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Gaeta and signed by Krasner, the office said prosecutors Katherine Ernst and Steven J. Wildberger acted inappropriately and without Krasner\u2019s permission when they filed a brief Monday saying the office had a conflict in the appeal of Dennis Johnson, who is seeking to have his murder conviction overturned.<\/p>\n The office said it had taken steps to address all of the issues it saw with Johnson\u2019s case, and that Ernst and Wildberger\u2019s assertions were \u201cill-informed\u201d and made without firsthand knowledge because they were no longer a part of the case.<\/p>\n The filing primarily focused on the steps the office took to ensure it was handling the case in a legal and ethical manner \u2014 and did not directly address the two prosecutors\u2019 contentions that Krasner had asked them to \u201cprotect the office.\u201d<\/p>\n In their filing Monday, Ernst and Wildberger said they tried to persuade Krasner to allow the state attorney general\u2019s office to take over Johnson\u2019s appeal after the prosecutor previously assigned to the case, Jaclyn Mason, recommended that his case be overturned \u2014 a recommendation the office later sought to reverse<\/a>, saying Mason\u2019s filing was full of false statements.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: A former prosecutor said DA Larry Krasner\u2019s Office colluded with defense attorneys to try to overturn a murder conviction<\/a><\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond then ordered a hearing on the matter. And in explosive testimony in federal court last week<\/a>, Mason said she had sought to vacate Johnson\u2019s conviction at the direction of her boss, Matt Stiegler \u2014 whom she accused of colluding with defense attorneys. Stiegler has said that was not the case.<\/p>\n Mason, who has since resigned, also said she was later told to lie about the case to minimize scrutiny of the office.<\/p>\n Ernst and Wildberger, who work in the law division of the DA\u2019s office, said that as they were evaluating the case in the spring, they tried to encourage Krasner to refer the case to the state attorney general because of issues with how it was handled.<\/p>\n For example, they said, Stiegler, the supervisor who they believed had made mistakes while overseeing the case, was still offering legal advice about it from a different role in the office, which Ernst and Wildberger viewed as self-interested and \u201cinappropriate\u201d because of his potential interest in clearing his name rather than evaluating the case on its merits.<\/p>\n But Krasner\u2019s office kept the case. And as they deliberated how to move forward, the two prosecutors wrote, Krasner told them \u201cto litigate the case in a manner to \u2018protect the office.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Then, in late June, Ernst and Wildberger wrote, they again asked Krasner to refer the matter to state prosecutors, but \u201cDA Krasner stated that there would be \u2018consequences\u2019 for anyone who notified the court of the conflict issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Ernst and Wildberger then filed a notice in federal court saying they believed the DA\u2019s office was beset by conflicts and should not handle Johnson\u2019s appeal. <\/p>\n