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| D.A. Larry Krasner prepares to flee |
for BigTrial.net
District Attorney Larry Krasner is so used to being coddled by the docile Philadelphia press corps that when somebody asks him a tough question, he literally doesn't know what to do.
Instead, Krasner panics and gets all twitchy. And then he runs and hides.
For the third straight week, Krasner today rearranged the format of his weekly press conference for the sole purpose of preventing Big Trial from asking him any tough questions.
Instead, Krasner called on by name every other reporter the room, including a shy young intern at one at the local TV stations, so they could take turns lobbing him softballs, in English and Spanish.
And when they were finally done, the D.A. abruptly called off the press conference, turned tail and headed for the exits. He was protected by a couple of bodyguards who physically prevented your Big Trial correspondent from confronting our cowardly D.A. before he hustled out of the room.
It was a pathetic performance by a public official, matched only by the passivity of the local press corps who collectively are a disgrace to journalism. As I have written previously, while people in this city are being shot, murdered and carjacked at historic levels, the timid local media is protecting Krasner by failing to report the overwhelming and readily available evidence that proves he is a complete failure as D.A.
The conflict-adverse D.A. began today's performance with a fake show of transparency.
"We will all be available to answer questions as we move forward," Krasner told the assembled reporters, before dictating the terms of the press conference.
"As we move forward" to the question and answer stage, the D.A. said, "We are going to do that in the following fashion so that it remains orderly."
"Sometimes people get shouty and start interrupting people," Krasner said. "We can't have that."
"Well, I'm gonna give everyone," Krasner began, before pausing to remember that everyone didn't include Big Trial.
"Well, I'm gonna call on some people to see if they have any particular questions," Krasner corrected himself, before asking, "Claudia Vargas, do you have any questions?"
"I do," said Vargas, of NBC 10, before she asked a series of questions.
Krasner has called a press conference to talk about the arrest of Krista Woody, a 35-year-old woman who got caught allegedly making a straw purchase and allegedly selling three guns to juveniles.
Vargas wanted to know how the defendant spelled her name.
"Was there another question, Claudia?" Krasner graciously asked.
Yes, there was. And another. And another after that.
The problem with Krasner's weekly press conferences is that they are typically dog and pony shows where Krasner hops on a soap box to promote some safe topic such as the benefits of local swimming pools, or bicycling.
Hey Mr. D.A., are you the parks and rec commissioner? Or are you the top law enforcement official in town?
And when Krasner does calls a press conference on some law enforcement topic, say the arrest of somebody for making a straw purchase of a gun, the case is so mundane and ordinary that no previous D.A. in memory would call a press conference to talk about it.
But it gives Larry Krasner a chance to talk about how tough his office is when they're cracking down on crime right after the police make an arrest, like in the case of Krista Woody.
The D.A. plans to "prosecute this case to the full extent of the law," one of Krasner's junior prosecutors dutifully told reporters.
But you'll never see Larry Krasner call a press conferences to announce how any of these cases actually turn out. Because that would show how ineffective his office is at prosecuting crime.
For example, on arrests for straw purchases of guns from July 2019 to July 2020, Krasner's office negotiated guilty pleas or obtained convictions for a total of 40 defendants.
Of the 40 defendants who got convicted, 24 got probation, and nine got either commuted sentences for time served, and an instant ticket out of jail, or they were placed on house arrest.
So much for getting tough on straw gun purchases.
At today's press conference, after he got through answering questions from Claudia Vargas, the eager-to-please Krasner called on Matt Petrillo of CBS Philly.
Petrillo, who is not only afraid to hold public officials accountable, but is also frightened by some of his fellow reporters, asked a series of innocuous questions about a couple of recent crimes, including a homicide on Kelly Drive.
Next, Krasner turned his attention to the local representative of another TV station.
"Channel 6, Jackie do you have anything?" he asked.
After Krasner got through with Jackie's questions, he called on Kelly Rule of Fox 29, who asked about a poor 13 year-old girl who got shot in the face.
Next up was Miguel Martinez of Univision, who wanted the bilingual Krasner to answer questions about the straw purchase arrest in Spanish. Krasner was only too happy to oblige.
Krasner then called called on Ellie Rushing of the Inquirer. When he got through answering her questions, he was ready to end the press conference.
"Thank you very much," he said, before Claudia Vargas interrupted, this time wanting to ask a series of questions in Spanish.
Once again, Krasner was only too happy to oblige.
When he was finally got through filibustering in Spanish, Krasner looked around and said, "OK, thank you very much."
The nearly half-hour press conference was over, and amazingly, nobody had asked Krasner about the shocking concurring opinion issued last week by state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty. In that opinion, the state Supreme Court justice blasted Krasner, accusing the D.A. of abusing the grand jury process so he could arrest a white cop for murder in a racially-charged police-involved shooting.
According to what Dougherty wrote, the D.A.'s office under Krasner was “driven by a win-at-all-cost office culture” that "treats police officers differently than other criminal defendants."
"This is the antithesis of what the law expects of a prosecutor," Dougherty wrote, adding that under the law, a prosecutor is supposed to be a "minister of justice."
It was an unprecedented upbraiding of the D.A. by a sitting state Supreme Court justice no less. Justice Dougherty had accused the D.A.'s office under Krasner of twisting the facts in an officer-involved shooting and deliberately not informing the jury of the relevant case law, so that Krasner could pour gasoline on a racial fire.
Since Justice Dougherty issued his opinion, Jane Roh, Krasner's spokesperson, had declined comment. But here was Krasner caught in the glare of the TV cameras. And nobody was going to press him on the most serious criticism to date of his office?
Well, the press conference may have been over, but I was just a few feet away from Krasner.
"What about state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty accusing you of abusing the grand jury process," I asked as Krasner scurried toward the exits, surrounded by his entourage. "Do you have any response to that, Mr. Krasner?"
I also wanted to follow up on a Big Trial scoop that Krasner had declined to comment on, that Nancy Winkleman, one of Krasner's top supervisors, had used a phony address at a rundown apartment building in West Philly to cover for where she really lives, on a scenic lake in Medford Lakes, N.J.
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| Profile in courage: D.A. flees reporter |
The City Charter requires employees in the D.A.'s office to live in the city. But Krasner apparently doesn't care about that. He's too busy passing out fat contracts to Winkelman's pals at her former law firm.
"What about Nancy Winkelman, Mr. Krasner," I asked. "Were you aware that she was using a phony address to dodge the residency requirement, Mr. Krasner?"
But after pacifying the local press corps by handing out all-day suckers, Krasner the cowardly fraud was already headed for the door.