It is well known that Philadelphia’s District Attorney, the George Soros-sponsored Larry Krasner, does not like the police. I’ve said that many times, but why take my word for it; read his Wikipedia biography instead:
Lawrence Samuel Krasner (born March 30, 1961) is an American lawyer who is the 26th district attorney of Philadelphia.[1] Elected to the position in 2017, Krasner campaigned on a platform to reform elements of the criminal justice system, including to reduce incarceration.
During his tenure as DA, Krasner has sought to spearhead criminal justice reform. His policies include ending criminal charges against those caught with marijuana possession, ending cash bail for those accused of some misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, reducing supervision for parolees, and seeking more lenient sentences for certain crimes.[2] During his time in office, he has advocated for greater police accountability and pursued police misconduct.[3] Penguin Random House published Krasner’s memoir, For the People: A Story of Justice and Power, in 2021[4].
After graduation and passing the bar, Krasner returned to Philadelphia to work for the Federal Public Defender‘s Office.[5] He opened his own law firm in 1993[1] and worked as a criminal defense lawyer in Philadelphia for 30 years,[1][9] specializing in civil rights,[10] and frequently representing protestors pro bono.[9] . . . .
Krasner’s representation of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Philadelphia members led many to call him an “anti-establishment” candidate during his 2017 primary campaign for the Democratic nomination.[11][12] He campaigned against existing policies that had resulted in disproportionately high numbers of minority males being jailed and proposed other reforms in criminal justice.[13] Krasner was a featured speaker at the 2017 People’s Summit.[14] . . . .
Philadelphia district attorney R. Seth Williams announced in February 2017 that he would not run for reelection.[15] Williams resigned from office and pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in June 2017; his interim replacement, Kathleen Martin, chose not to run.[16]
Shortly before Krasner announced his candidacy, John McNesby, president of Lodge 5 of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, derided Krasner’s intention to enter the race as “hilarious.” McNesby opposed Krasner’s promise to refuse to prosecute defendants whose detainments were illegally performed so arresting officers could earn overtime pay as well as his history of suing police officers who perpetrated corruption and brutality.[1] Less than three weeks before the primary, a political action committee supporting Krasner’s campaign received a $1.45 million contribution from billionaire George Soros.[17] . . . .
In his first week in office, Krasner fired 31 prosecutors from the District Attorney’s Office, including both junior and career supervisory staff. Those fired represented nearly a 10% reduction in the number of Philadelphia assistant district attorneys.[25][26]
In February 2018, Krasner announced that law enforcement would no longer pursue criminal charges against those caught with marijuana possession.[27] That same month, Krasner instructed prosecutors to stop seeking cash bail for those accused of some misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.[28] Krasner said that it was unfair to keep people in detention simply because they could not afford bail.[28]
Krasner also announced that the DA’s office had filed a lawsuit against a number of pharmaceutical companies for their role in the city’s opioid epidemic.[27] Krasner instructed prosecutors to stop charging sex workers who had fewer than three convictions.[29]
Yu, Mr Krasner loves him some criminals! Now we have this, from The Philadelphia Inquirer:
An ex-Philly cop, nearly shot on the job, says DA Larry Krasner’s office made a ‘disrespectful’ plea offer to the accused gunman
Patrick Keller said prosecutors made a plea offer to the accused gunman that included a four- to eight-year prison sentence. Keller called that “disrespectful.”
by Chris Palmer | Thursday, June 2, 2022
A former Philadelphia police officer who was shot at in 2020 while responding to a call blasted the District Attorney’s Office on Thursday for making what he called a “disrespectful” and lenient plea offer to the accused shooter.
Former Officer Patrick Keller said prosecutors had offered the defendant a plea deal that included a four- to eight-year prison sentence followed by three years’ probation.
Keller, 28, who now works as an officer in a suburban police department that he declined to identify, said that punishment would not match the severity of the crime. And he faulted prosecutors for not sufficiently consulting him before reaching their conclusion.
Is Officer Keller actually surprised that Philadelphia prosecutors didn’t seriously consult with him? Their boss doesn’t like cops, doesn’t care what they think, and even if an assistant district attorney thought that Mr Keller should have been more closely consulted, he’d have a reasonable fear of losing his job if he did so.
John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, called the offer a “sweetheart deal” and said it was another example of District Attorney Larry Krasner being too lenient with defendants amid the city’s record-breaking surge in gun violence.
Keller was “shot at as a police officer,” said McNesby, who sat beside Keller at the news conference. “So [for] the regular average person in the community, what does that say to them? … There’s no accountability out there.”
The remarks were another public demonstration of the years-long tension between some police officers and Krasner’s office. The union has repeatedly criticized the DA’s reform-oriented approach, saying it has contributed to the city’s gun violence crisis by emboldening criminals. Krasner has defended his policies and said his critics have not offered evidence to show that his office has made a long-standing and systemic issue worse.
Remember: Mr Krasner and his office are directly responsible for the killing of Philadelphia Police Corporal James O’Connor IV. I have said it before: the problem is not mass incarceration; the problem is that not enough people are incarcerated!
One of the people who wasn’t incarcerated on Friday, March 13, 2020, was Hasan Elliot, 21. How did the District Attorney’s office treat Mr Elliot, a known gang-banger?
- Mr Elliott, then 18 years old, was arrested in June 2017 on gun- and drug-possession charges stemming after threatening a neighbor with a firearm. The District Attorney’s office granted him a plea bargain arrangement on January 24, 2018, and he was sentenced to 9 to 23 months in jail, followed by three years’ probation. However, he was paroled earlier than that, after seven months in jail.
- Mr Elliot soon violated parole by failing drug tests and failing to make his meetings with his parole officer.
- Mr Elliott was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine on January 29, 2019. This was another parole violation, but Mr Krasner’s office did not attempt to have Mr Elliot returned to jail to finish his sentence, nor make any attempts to get serious bail on the new charges; he was released on his own recognizance.
- After Mr Elliot failed to appear for his scheduled drug-possession trial on March 27, 2019, and prosecutors dropped those charges against him.
On that Friday the 13th, Police Corporal James O’Connor IV, 46, was part of a Philadelphia police SWAT team trying to serve a predawn arrest warrant on Mr Elliott, from a March 2019 killing. Mr Elliot greeted the SWAT team with a hail of bullets, and Corporal O’Connor was killed. Had Mr Elliot been in jail, as he could have and should have been due to parole violations, had Mr Krasner’s office treated him seriously, Corporal O’Connor would have gone home safely to his wife that day.
Officer Keller could not have been surprised that Mr Krasner and his minions did not treat Devon Smith, the accursed assailant, seriously, because Mr Krasner never treats accused criminals seriously. Nor does Mr Krasner treat crimes against policemen any more seriously than he would crimes against civilians.
Let’s do something really radical and tell the truth here: Officer Keller and Mr McNesby’s complaint is exactly that, that the District Attorney and his office do not treat crimes against policemen, against the people who put their lives on the line to serve the law-abiding people of the city, more seriously than crimes against civilians. Most people, including yours truly, believe that crimes against police officers should be treated as harshly as the law allows, but the good people of Philadelphia knew what hey had in Mr Krasner, and they voted him into office anyway. The City of Brotherly Love is on pace for 537 murders this year, and that’s apparently exactly what they want.