In a rare story critical of D.A. Larry Krasner, the Philadelphia Inquirer produced a report that has his own staff indicting Larry, a legal action to which he seems averse when it comes to criminals.
I’ve written many times about Let ‘em Loose Larry.
You know how I feel about him. This time I will report on how his own staff feels about him.
It ain’t flattering. (I note that reports of staff unrest were first reported in Ralph Cipriano’s BigTrial.net blog.) Staffers are screaming out of the office as if it were on fire.
The biggest disturbing fact is that two-thirds of the D.A.’s lawyers — 261 out of 340 — have left the office since Krasner took it over in 2018. You might ask how an office can efficiently prosecute criminals with turnover like that. You don’t have to ask — you know. It can’t.
While the Inquirer does not say the churn is unprecedented, it did make the story the lead on Page One. If that dropout rate were anywhere near normal, it would not have been given such display.
You can read the full story in the link I provided. For everyone else, I will provide the highlights.
More than 70 of the lawyers who said, “See ya,” we’re the alleged best and brightest for whom Krasner scoured Ivy League and Black colleges to find young lawyers interested in so-called restorative justice and not so much in prosecuting.
The most shocking statement I read in the story is this one, from a departing lawyer: “He would hire people that didn’t think anybody belonged in jail at all. Why are you a prosecutor? He would hire people who would cry after convicting someone.”
Now that’s woke — crying when you successfully prosecute a criminal It makes you wonder how hard some of these duds tried to prosecute criminals.
I use the word “duds” with little caution, because one-third of the geniuses recruited by Krasner were unable to pass the bar exam. What the hell, just so their hearts are in the right place.
Two-thirds of the lawyers in Major Trials, which handles the most serious cases, were admitted to the bar in the last five years. That means they are green and chum for Philadelphia’s famed class of criminal lawyers.
The loss of experience began with Krasner’s first days in office, when he dismissed 31 veteran staffers, for various reasons, but mostly, I believe, because they did not share his vision of everyone charged with a crime is innocent.
Apparently, Krasner didn’t snuff them all. The story says several of the new kids on the block hired by Krasner described “micromanagement” by supervisors who seem opposed to Krasner’s reforms. A fifth column within the D.A.’s office? That may explain how Cipriano gets some of his scoops. That’s what reporters do.
Other new lawyers complained the reform they found was not the reform they expected.
I return now to the previously-mentioned crying lawyers.
If you believe the dude did it, and you nail him, why would you burst out in tears?
It makes you wonder what the hell is going on in law schools.
Great blog posting, Stu. Explains a lot about the rise in crime in Philadelphia.
I was an Inquirer subscriber for 40 years – until it endorsed Krasner for the last election. Do you think the Inquirer will admit its mistake?
Right after it admits letting me go was a mistake. 😁
Made me laugh so hard coffee came out of my nose!
😊
Agee. Letting you go was a big mistake.You actually understood all the diverse people and neighborhoods that make up the city. These new lib writers do not understand or appreciate blue collar Philly.They look down their noses on these deploreables.
Thanks
From the Wall Street Journal
A Larry Krasner Christmas
Happy holidays from Philadelphia’s criminals to a wedding party and even a U.S. Congresswoman.
On the unseasonably warm night of Dec. 10, a groom stepped outside of his wedding reception for a breath of fresh air. Two men saw him. One drew a handgun, and they demanded the groom’s Rolex watch. The robbery occurred downtown a short stroll away from the Liberty Bell.
Welcome to the holiday season in Larry Krasner’s Philadelphia. Days before the groom’s ambush, the progressive district attorney claimed that “we don’t have a crisis of lawlessness, we don’t have a crisis of crime, we don’t have a crisis of violence.” The remarks infuriated Philadelphia residents, who are the victims of the crime he said doesn’t exist.
Philadelphia has seen a record 544 homicides so far this year, up from 347 in the entirety of 2019. Police have recorded some 1,785 nonfatal shootings this year. More than 84% of the victims of the gun violence in 2021 were black, according to the Philadelphia Office of the Controller.
Police data also shows some 2,283 gun robberies as of Dec. 19, a 28.6% increase over the same period last year. Retail theft is up more than 20% this year, and auto theft more than 15%, with nearly 11,000 vehicles stolen.
The crime surge has spared no district. On Dec. 7, robbers stole Rolex watches from a man and his son as they left the Philadelphia Four Seasons hotel. One of the criminals “had the gun right to my stomach area,” victim Drew Williams told the local Action News. Police said Wednesday that no suspects have been arrested in either the Four Seasons or wedding crimes.
The Four Seasons heist was one of some 25 armed robberies in the posh Center City neighborhood in the first half of December, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. But poor and minority neighborhoods have borne the true brunt, though those crimes receive less media attention.
Even as we were writing this, a report came over the wire that U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked and robbed at gunpoint on Wednesday afternoon shortly after finishing a meeting at FDR Park in Philly. Ms. Scanlon was walking back to her car when she was approached by two armed men who demanded her car keys and personal belongings, according to a spokeswoman. She handed over her belongings, including personal and government cell phones—and the two men drove away in her 2017 Acura MDX.
The crime surge is a direct result of Mr. Krasner’s soft-on-criminals policy. He has bragged that the county jail population decreased 40% in his first three years in office. Police data show property crime is up nearly 7% for 2021 compared to 2017, the year before Mr. Krasner became district attorney. But Mr. Krasner’s office has charged only some 3,740 people for property crimes this year, down from 7,500 over the same period of 2017. No wonder criminals feel it’s urban hunting season.
After a public backlash, Mr. Krasner walked back his claim that there was no crime crisis in Philadelphia. “I know that some inarticulate things I said earlier this week have offended people,” he said on Dec. 9. “I did not acknowledge the pain and the hurt that people feel in the city of Philadelphia,” he said on Dec. 13.
That half-apology means little as criminals now treat Philadelphia streets as if they have free rein to rob anyone at any time of the day. Wedding parties may soon need their own security in the City of Brotherly Mayhem.
Appeared in the December 23, 2021, print edition.
HAPPY THURSDAY !!!
pallie,
I have to hand it to ya. Your staying in Philly come hell or highwater.
What’s important here is, what does George Soros think ? He doesn’t care about the city. The dims certainly don’t care. What remains to be seen, is how long will it take to destroy Philly. Little by little, gun shot by gunshot, the pit is getting deeper and soon enough, the city wont be able to right itself.
Tony
Stand and fight, never surrender
Agreed. 100%. Never, ever.
HAPPY FRIDAY !!!
pallie,
Excellent advice to those like you and me. Mostly, we stand alone.
I find it interesting after a long hiatus the word “criminals” escaped the lips of Mayor Kenney. Sadly, it took the carjacking of a U.S. Congresswoman for him to reintroduce the word into his vocabulary. No insult intended to all the victims of violent crimes the past two years.
Excellent observation.
Defence attorneys are too smart to go on the record but I have a friend who knows 2 defense attorneys who told him they are very happy with krasner s ada s as they have yet to lose a case to ones who weren’t holdovers from the Seth Williams d.a s office
Not surprised.