It is, I suppose, not a surprise that this article in The Philadelphia Inquirer is marked For Subscribers Only. They actually did the journalism, but perhaps they didn’t want too, too many non-liberals to see how bad District Attorney Larry Krasner and his minions really are. But I subscribe that so you don’t have to!

Why the accused Roxborough gunman was out on bail at the time of the shooting, despite his conviction for another crime

“Obviously, with hindsight, it is a truly awful situation,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said.

by Ellie Rushing | Wednesday, October 19, 2022 | 5:34 PM EDT

Yaaseen Bivins. Mugshot via Philly Crime Update, because you know the Inquirer would never print it. Click to enlarge.

Yaaseen Bivins was free on bail when police say he shot five teens outside Roxborough High School last month, eight weeks after he was convicted of plowing his car into a pregnant woman and killing her unborn baby while drag racing.

Bivins, 21, was found guilty in August of aggravated assault by vehicle, illegal racing, and causing an accident involving death while unlicensed, but he walked out of the courtroom because prosecutors didn’t ask the judge to revoke his bail and jail him while he awaited sentencing.

You know, it was that subtitle in the inquirer which really got to me: “‘Obviously, with hindsight, it is a truly awful situation,’ District Attorney Larry Krasner said.” Just why does it take hindsight to realize that a man convicted of an Accident involving Death or Injury While Not Licensed, a Third Degree Felony in Pennsylvania (Title 75 §3742.1 §§A1), which under Title 18 §1103(3) has a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, is going to jail, and should be sent directly to jail, do not pass Go, even while awaiting sentencing? Just why does it take hindsight to realize that a man convicted of Aggravated Assault by Vehicle, another Third Degree Felony in Pennsylvania (Title 75 §3732.1) is going to jail, and should be sent directly to jail while awaiting sentencing?

There should have been no question that Mr Bivins was going to go to jail; not requesting the revocation of his bail was an invitation for him to flee or commit other crimes.

After five paragraphs describing the frequent criticism of Mr Krasner, including by the Philadelphia Police Department and Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, we get to Mr Krasner’s excuses:

Krasner said in an interview that, in hindsight, he wishes his office had asked for Bivins to be jailed after his conviction. But he said the prosecutor assigned to the case could not have known that Bivins — who had no criminal record and never missed a court date — would go on to commit other crimes.

“Obviously, with hindsight, it is a truly awful situation,” he said. “I’d love to be able to tell you we asked for it. I’d love to be able to tell you the judge did it. But we can’t go back in time.

“The picture of the defendant that was available to the court, and was available to the attorney… was a very different picture than what we know now,” he said.

The picture available to the Assistant District Attorney was one of a man who killed someone, one who was going to go to jail, and the ADA didn’t realize that leniency was not called for at that point. An ADA with any common sense, any at all, would have realized that, with Mr Bivins then in hand, the sensible thing to do was revoke bail and send him to prison to await sentencing, rather than take the chance that he’d flee.

But we already know: if you have any common sense at all, you are not going to work for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office while George Soros-sponsored, criminal-loving and police-hating Mr Krasner is in charge.

I’ll put it very bluntly: Larry Krasner and whatever idiotic Assistant District Attorney didn’t ask for the revocation of bail are responsible for the death of Nicolas Elizalde! They should be held accountable for 14-year-old Mr Elizalde’s death, but, of course, they won’t be.

Mr Bivins was the one who purchased the ammunition used in the guns which killed Mr Elizalde, and wounded four others, as is documented by this photo of him doing so, five days before the gang hit — I’m sorry, not “gang” hit, but simply a “rival street group” action, according to the District Attorney’s Office^[1]We were reliably informed by The Philadelphia Inquirer that there are no gangs in the city, just “cliques of young men affiliated with certain neighborhoods and families,” who sometimes … Continue reading — targeting another “rival street group” member, and which wound up killing Mr Elizalde as collateral damage.

Prosecutors routinely ask for bail to be revoked after a conviction if they intend to ask for jail time, former prosecutors said, so the defendant can start serving the sentence immediately.

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t ask to revoke bail if you believe this person actually deserves to be incarcerated,” said Chris Lynett, who worked as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia for five years before going into private practice in 2020. “You want him to serve his time and get out.”

Does this mean that Mr Krasner’s office and the ADA in the case did not intend to ask for jail time for Mr Bivins after his convictions? We don’t know that, and Mr Krasner and the ADA in question aren’t likely to tell us; that “hindsight” thing, you know? Since they charged Mr Bivins with two First Degree Felonies^[2]Under Title 18 §1103(1), a First Degree Felony carries a twenty year maximum sentence. — Judge Charles Ehrlich acquitted him of those in a non-jury trial — the DA’s Office must have believed him to be a pretty bad guy.

We have long known that Mr Krasner and his defense-attorneys-as-prosecutors minions have been extremely lenient on criminals, and the result has been a tremendous spike in violent crime, but it’s rare that we get one so time-compressed and nearly immediate. Other people, closer to the situation and better at this than me might be able to put more of those cases together, and I hope that they do. Personally, I’m surprised that the Inky reported on this at all, because they cover for Mr Krasner all that they can.