for BigTrial.net
The embattled district attorney of Philadelphia today turned a press conference at the D.A.'s office into a political rally against the members of the state House of Representatives who just voted to hold him in contempt for ignoring a subpoena.
With a blow up of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and a blindfolded Lady Justice behind him as a backdrop, Krasner talked about "the necessity of protecting Philadelphia's democracy" against a list of enemies, real and imagined.
According to Krasner, the enemies of democracy who are trying to impeach him and overturn free elections everywhere include not only the state legislators who voted 162-38 against Krasner -- including 51 Democrats -- but also past Republican presidents such as Donald Trump and Richard Nixon, the neo-Fascist Proud Boys as well as the anti-government militia known as the Oath Keepers.
According to the Inquirer, McDermott told Roh, “I will warn you, ma’am. You have heard me.” According to the Inquirer, the judge advised Roh that she had the power to hold people in contempt of court if Roh didn't stop tweeting about the case.
While he was on his political soapbox, Krasner also trashed Ryan Pownall, a former police officer whom the D.A. has indicted for murder. In publicly hanging Pownall out to dry, Krasner divulged what will surely be inadmissible evidence when the former cop goes on trial in November. But as Krasner has previously demonstrated, a cop's civil rights means nothing to him.
In the Pownall case, a state Supreme Court Justice, Kevin Dougherty, has publicly charged Krasner with abusing the grand jury process by withholding relevant case law from grand jurors about what constitutes justifiable use of force by a police officer.
Why did Krasner do that? According to what state Supreme Court Justice Dougherty wrote in a concurring opinion, Krasner did it so that the grand jury, purposely kept ignorant of the law, would produce a "tainted" grand jury report that Krasner could feed to the media, so they would tar and feather defendant Pownall before he goes on trial.
Krasner's latest assault on the civil rights of a police officer came just days after a Common Pleas Court judge admonished Jane Roh, Krasner's spokesperson, for tweeting about an ongoing case involving another former police officer indicted by Krasner, Eric Ruch Jr., currently on trial for murder.
Last week, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott "grew irate" when she learned that Roh had tweeted about the Ruch case, including a report that the city had agreed to pay $1.2 million to the widow of the suspect who was shot to death by Ruch.
McDermott is also the judge in the Pownall case. And wait till she hears what Krasner said today, which far outweighs what Roh did to undermine a defendant's constitutional rights.
At today's press conference, Krasner complained that the select committee in the state House of Representatives that's trying to impeach him demanded in a subpoena that he give up "secret grand jury records in a particular case."
"Out of the 35,000 or so cases we do a year they wanted the contents of a file for one case," Krasner said.
"Guess which one?" the D.A. said. "It would be a case in which a police officer is charged with murder for twice shooting in the back a man who was running away and who was unarmed at the time he was shot," Krasner said, giving his twisted version of the facts of the case.
And then Krasner made the mistake of divulging his account of a second officer-involved shooting that Pownall was involved in, details that lawyers familiar with the case say will clearly constitute inadmissible evidence when Pownall goes on trial.
"This same officer previously and in uniform had shot another man in the back and paralyzed him," Krasner said. "That is the only case that this committee wants to get in the middle of and they know it's going to trial in November."
At the end of Krasner's press conference, I asked Krasner what he had to say in response to the allegations that state Supreme Court Justice Dougherty had publicly made against him in a concurring opinion.
As I previously mentioned, the state Supreme Court justice had charged Krasner with abusing the grand jury process and withholding relevant case law that would have acquitted the defendant, so that the grand jurors would produce a tainted report that Krasner could feed to a gullible news media.
Here, Krasner got pissed at me while I was asking my question.
"I'm sure you can put that speech in your article," he snapped, confirming once again what I've been told by sources, that Krasner is bigtrial.net's most loyal reader.
Then, Krasner got around to answering my question.
"My response to that is we are under strict instructions from the judge in that case not to talk about the case, and we will not be doing it until it is over," Krasner said.
Here, the D.A. in broad daylight was admitting that he wasn't supposed to talk about the Pownall case right after he had just trashed the former police officer.
But Krasner wasn't the only speaker at his press conference who trashed Pownall.
The Rev. Andrea Harrington of the Whosoever Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia began her remarks by condemning former President Trump for taking classified documents home with him.
"No one" will do anything about Trump, Harrington complained. "But the man who decides to seek justice for that man shot in his back and paralyzed by a police officer, oh he's horrible, get rid of him," Harrington said, referring to D.A. Krasner.
Trampling on a police officer's constitutional rights is nothing new for Krasner.
Last November, the state Commonwealth Court ruled that a "Do Not Call" list of allegedly tainted cops compiled by the D.A.'s office -- a list that would prohibit those cops from testifying in court -- was unconstitutional.
Why? Because the list, subsequently published in the Inquirer, amounted to a "black list," the court stated. Why? Because it did not afford the accused cops due process where they could contest the charges, and have a chance to clear their names.
And for Krasner, pissing off judges is nothing new either. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Mitchell Goldberg officially sanctioned the D.A.'s office for an "egregious" and "exceptional" lack of candor. The judge got angry after he caught two of Krasner's top supervisors repeatedly lying to him.
As part of his sanctions, the federal judge ordered Krasner to personally apologize in writing to a crime victim, as well as three of her family members. Why? Because Krasner's office neglected to inform them -- as required by law -- that Krasner had intervened in the case and was conspiring with defense lawyers to let the vicious killer of the crime victim's parents off death row.
While Krasner was on his soapbox today, he complained about the societal forces driving violent crime in the city, which he said included the state legislature in Harrisburg, for not fully funding Philadelphia public schools.
That gave me a chance to ask Krasner about the back taxes he owes on the former Princeton Club, located at 1221-23 Locust Street, which means that Krasner is also personally guilty of not fully funding Philadelphia public schools.
As he often does, Krasner, a habitual tax deadbeat, used a technicality to lie to reporters at the press conference.
"OK, that's absolutely false," Krasner said about my statement that according to city tax records posted online, he owes the city of Philadelphia $77,933.66 in back taxes.
"I owe the city of Philadelphia absolutely nothing," Krasner contended. "That is completely incorrect."
According to Krasner's most recent statement of financial interest, however, filed on May 2, 2022, the D.A. has a 40% ownership stake in Tiger Building LP, which technically owns the former Princeton Club, with an estimated value of $3.8 million.
So, technically it's the Tiger Building LP, of which Krasner has a 40% stake in, that owes back taxes of $77,933.66.
That's Larry Krasner, always looking for a loophole to slither through.
But that's not the full story.
Because on his May 2, 2022 statement of financial interest where Krasner listed his 40% stake in Tiger Building LP, the D.A. was also required to list his personal debts.
So on his statement of financial interest the D.A. listed among his creditors -- you guessed it -- the city of Philadelphia!
That's something Krasner couldn't fess up to today in front of a roomful of reporters.