Donald Trump made the phrase “draining the swamp” famous, as he characterized getting rid of years-long, even decades-long personnel infesting the federal government. He has succeeded to an extent, with the federal government’s non-military work force at the lowest level in sixty years. But in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia, the same merry-go-round of public employees continues:
In 2020, he killed a man in self-defense after soliciting prostitution. On Monday, he started a job in City Council.
DeVonté Douglass in 2021 was fired from his role in the district attorney’s office and pleaded guilty to a prostitution-related misdemeanor after fatally shooting a sex worker in self-defense.
by Sean Collins Walsh and Jake Blumgart | Wednesday, October 28, 2026 | 6:36 PM EDT | Updated: 8:49 PM EDT
In 2021, DeVonté Douglass was fired from his role in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and pleaded guilty to a prostitution-related misdemeanor after fatally shooting a sex worker in self-defense.
On Monday, Douglass started a new job in Philadelphia’s halls of power, working as a staffer for City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., according to an internal Council email obtained by The Inquirer.
So what did Mr Douglass do that got him fired in 2021?
DeVonte Douglass, who had worked with victims of gun violence, shot Vernon Harris on the morning of Oct. 20 in Strawberry Mansion. He told investigators he fired his handgun after Harris pulled a gun and robbed him.
In a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said that after a “thorough” investigation the office “has determined DeVonte Douglass acted in self-defense when he fired his weapon and will not be charged with homicide.”
However, Douglass was charged with soliciting prostitution, possession of an instrument of crime, and making false reports to law enforcement authorities about the facts surrounding the fatal shooting. All three charges are misdemeanors.
So, a man who “worked with victims of gun violence,” which must have been a very busy job in 2020 and 2021, decided that it would be a good idea to hire a male prostitute with a long rap sheet, a prostitute who lived in the Frankford area, meet him in Strawberry Mansion — both are lousy areas, crime-ridden areas — and take a firearm with him? Does this sound like a man with good judgement to you?
But, then again, he was hired by councilman Jeffery Young, Jr, about whom the Inquirer noted concerning his history on Twitter:
Derogatory comments on women were a consistent theme across many of Young’s tweets.
“Ur not a whore, you just have a friendly vagina,” Young wrote, seemingly to no one in particular, in 2011.
In 2012, he posted, “I see why professional black dudes marry white women. Their crazy is way less then black women crazy. Lol”
Perhaps the councilman doesn’t have the greatest judgement himself.