Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
District Attorney Larry Krasner<\/a> came into office promising<\/a> to end mass incarceration, decriminalize minor offenses, eliminate cash bail, and free anyone who was wrongly convicted.<\/p>\n On its face, those reforms seemed laudable given Philadelphia\u2019s \u2014 and the nation\u2019s \u2014 decades-long, tough-on-crime politics, policies, and policing that resulted in high incarceration rates<\/a> and a justice system rooted in racial<\/a> and economic<\/a> disparities.<\/p>\n But in Krasner\u2019s zeal to right past wrongs, he has caused grave damage to himself and his office. A series of legal setbacks has cast doubt on Krasner\u2019s ability to administer fair and impartial justice, let alone manage his office.<\/p>\n As a result, crime victims and the accused are left to wonder if the city\u2019s top law enforcement official can properly do his job.<\/p>\n Krasner\u2019s latest and most perilous legal trouble stems from a recent court case involving a man\u2019s attempts<\/a> to overturn his 2009 murder conviction.<\/p>\n Following an evidentiary hearing that stretched for three days over the summer, U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond referred<\/a> the matter to federal prosecutors to investigate Krasner and Matthew Stiegler \u2014 the former head of the district attorney\u2019s office\u2019s Conviction Integrity Unit \u2014 for potential crimes, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury.<\/p>\n Krasner and Stiegler have not been charged. It is unclear if the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Philadelphia will launch an investigation, though it appears very likely considering that amid the hearing that spurred the criminal referral, Diamond said<\/a> that \u201cpotential wrongdoing abounds.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Krasner\u2019s office is accused of lying and cutting corners to win exonerations \u2014 and the wrongly convicted could pay the steepest price | Editorial<\/a><\/p>\n Even before Krasner\u2019s latest legal morass, a disturbing pattern of lies and chicanery emerged involving the office\u2019s handling of other post-conviction cases, mainly for murder.<\/p>\n One supervisor was disbarred<\/a> last year and another suspended<\/a> in June for repeatedly lying in federal court while seeking to overturn the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a couple in their East Mount Airy<\/a> home. The federal judge in that case found<\/a> the DA\u2019s office provided a \u201cfalse account\u201d of the events, and ordered Krasner to write a letter of apology to the victims\u2019 family.<\/p>\n In the very first exoneration of Krasner\u2019s first term, a Common Pleas Court judge ruled<\/a> his team unfairly accused two former prosecutors of misconduct and had \u201cmisplaced and\/or destroyed\u201d records and relevant evidence. The judge fined the district attorney\u2019s office $120,000.<\/p>\n In June, the state Supreme Court found<\/a> the office had violated its duty of candor to the court and ordered the state attorney general\u2019s office to review future attempts by the DA\u2019s office to reduce a sentence or overturn a past conviction.<\/p>\n The latest case before Judge Diamond featured<\/a> stunning sworn testimony by four supervisors hired during Krasner\u2019s tenure who remain on the job.<\/p>\n Their accounts from the witness stand painted a disturbing picture of Krasner and Stiegler scrambling to contain any legal fallout involving the lazy and disingenuous handling of their decision to initially go along with defense attorneys seeking to overturn the 2009 second-degree murder conviction of Dennis Johnson.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Krasner\u2019s candor problem started with his first exoneration win | Paul Davies<\/a><\/p>\n For years, Johnson\u2019s post-conviction appeal efforts were repeatedly rejected<\/a>. In 2022, then-Assistant District Attorney Jaclyn Mason filed a brief that agreed with Johnson\u2019s lawyers that his trial counsel had been ineffective, and his conviction should be overturned.<\/p>\n In May, Diamond ordered an evidentiary hearing to examine what new evidence emerged to prompt the DA\u2019s change in position.<\/p>\n That spurred a group of supervisors in the district attorney\u2019s office to scrutinize Mason\u2019s initial brief in which they found numerous \u201cmaterial misstatements.\u201d The four supervisors \u2014 Katherine Ernst, Steven Wildberger, David Napiorski, and Peter Andrews \u2014 determined the office needed to withdraw the motion and apologize to the court.<\/p>\n They asked Mason to sign the filing with them, but she said Stiegler should take responsibility since he drove the effort to concede after several meetings with Johnson\u2019s defense attorneys at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.<\/p>\n Fearing she would get all the blame, Mason quit in June and testified<\/a> the following month that Stiegler had \u201ccolluded\u201d with Johnson\u2019s defense team and told her, \u201cIf it is good enough for the Innocence Project, it was good enough for him.\u201d<\/p>\n After Mason quit, the supervisors said Stiegler lobbied his fellow supervisors to go through Mason\u2019s other cases, find errors, and tell Diamond she was a rogue actor. Krasner endorsed the plan, calling it a \u201cgood idea,\u201d according to the supervisors.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: The day Larry Krasner\u2019s office was put on trial \u2014 by his own prosecutors | Paul Davies<\/a><\/p>\n The supervisors rejected that scheme and instead argued for the case to be turned over to the state attorney general. Krasner repeatedly opposed that plan, citing the need to \u201cprotect the office.\u201d The four supervisors concluded the efforts by Stiegler and Krasner created a conflict of interest for them and the office.<\/p>\n The supervisors testified<\/a> that Krasner threatened \u201cconsequences\u201d if they told Diamond about the internal discussions. But rather than go along with the ruse, the four supervisors withdrew from the case.<\/p>\n Diamond found Krasner\u2019s threat \u201ccould amount to obstruction of justice,\u201d and the scheme with Stiegler to present a false narrative \u201cmight amount to criminal conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n Diamond credited Ernst, Wildberger, Napiorski, and Andrews for coming forward \u201cat the risk of their jobs.\u201d He wrote their testimony was \u201ccompelling and corroborated by contemporaneous documents.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge rejected Stiegler\u2019s version of events, writing that he found his testimony \u201ccontradictory, evasive, or outright dishonest.\u201d He said Stiegler was \u201cresponsible\u201d for the errors in the concession brief and that Mason followed his orders. Diamond added that Stiegler\u2019s testimony \u201cmay well amount to perjury.\u201d<\/p>\n Confirming Mason\u2019s fears, Diamond found Krasner directed the four supervisors to implement Stiegler\u2019s plan to blame her for errors in the brief.<\/p>\n Sources told The Inquirer that Stiegler abruptly resigned from his position as head of the exonerations unit Thursday<\/a>, but he will remain in the district attorney\u2019s office. <\/p>\n Krasner issued a statement that said he \u201crespectfully and vigorously\u201d disagreed with Diamond\u2019s findings and planned to appeal. He said he couldn\u2019t comment further because the case is pending.<\/p>\n But even that is not entirely truthful. Diamond said Krasner could have defended himself at the hearing. The judge wrote that Krasner \u201cchose not to testify\u201d or even to submit an affidavit after the hearing.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Larry Krasner\u2019s exoneration push faces a reckoning | Paul Davies<\/a><\/p>\n \u201c[Krasner] apparently does not dispute \u2014 or does not address \u2014 much of the testimony presented,\u201d Diamond wrote.<\/p>\n Krasner\u2019s handling of the Johnson matter is beyond troubling. Perhaps just as telling, before the judge\u2019s ruling was released, Krasner\u2019s take on events, detailed in a filing made by his office<\/a>, underscored that he remains unbowed. Indeed, as the legal setbacks have mounted, Krasner has demonstrated a glaring blind spot regarding his failings as a leader.<\/p>\n As a result, Krasner faces a legal peril of his own making.<\/p>\n Krasner came into office with a long list of real and perceived detractors. But he has frittered away his credibility, and his actions have undermined the hard work and dedication of many of his rank-and-file attorneys.<\/p>\n This Editorial Board has endorsed Krasner in previous elections, but now believes he has created an untenable situation that could impact the treatment of crime victims and wrongdoers.<\/p>\n One significant challenge: Will judges and juries trust prosecutors from the DA\u2019s office?<\/p>\n There is no denying that innocent people who were wrongly convicted sit in prisons. Krasner was right to review past convictions. But the questionable handling of these cases that was described in court has sabotaged his own authority to right those wrongs.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Krasner hasn\u2019t said a word about a growing exoneration controversy \u2014 but his own court filing does | Paul Davies<\/a><\/p>\n The DA\u2019s office is now rife with turmoil, fear, and distrust. Krasner sent a chill through the office after he allegedly threatened jobs and called prosecutors in the state attorney general\u2019s office \u201cNazis.\u201d One assistant supervisor recently stepped down from his leadership post after losing faith in the office.<\/p>\n Krasner, who spent decades as a defense attorney, entered public office with a list of grievances and a deep mistrust of law enforcement, which he called<\/a> \u201csystematically racist.\u201d<\/p>\n Before first getting elected district attorney in 2017, Krasner sued<\/a> the Philadelphia Police Department<\/a> 75 times. Days after taking office, he ousted<\/a> more than two dozen staffers, including many experienced prosecutors.<\/p>\n Krasner has expressed disdain for the state attorney general\u2019s office. He often views judges who oppose him as hostile, according to people familiar with his thinking.<\/p>\n His jaded and often huffish views inform how he administers justice, whom he indicts or doesn\u2019t indict. Not to mention his fraught relationship with police. Lives hang in the balance, including the accused, victims, and the wrongly convicted.<\/p>\n Krasner now faces a major challenge: Can he regain the trust of the public and the prosecutors in his office? He should start by installing experienced and respected leaders.<\/p>\n Then Krasner needs to look in the mirror and determine if he can continue to run the district attorney\u2019s office under the giant cloud he has created.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min District Attorney Larry Krasner came into office promising to end mass incarceration, decriminalize…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[120052,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-288921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-larry-krasner-investigation-wrongful-convictions","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288921","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=288921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}