for BigTrial.net
Carlos Vega, who's running for the Democratic nomination for D.A., says that Larry Krasner is conducting a "social experiment" funded by rich elites, an experiment that's killing black and brown people every day on the bloody streets of Philadelphia.
In an interview on the latest cop-hosted Search Warrant podcast, Vega talked about billionaire George Soros and the tech giants from California who are bankrolling Krasner's reelection campaign.
"There are millionaires and billionaires that are backing him for this social experiment," said Vega, who spent 35 years as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office, 30 of those years as a homicide prosecutor.
"This social experiment is failing at the cost of the lives of black and brown people," Vega said. He cited statistics that show that 87% of the city's nearly 500 murder victims in 2020 were black, and another 10-12% were Latino.
While black and brown people are dying in Philadelphia, Vega said, the people funding Krasner's campaign "live in gated communities" in places like California where they are protected by private security.
"The millionaire elite, the rules do not apply to them," Vega said. "They apply to you and me."
As for the D.A., Vega said, "Mr. Krasner walks around" town guarded by "armed police officers," lives "in a million dollar home" and drives a Tesla.
"He's protected," Vega said about Krasner. Meanwhile, "people like you and me have to walk in the street" and risk being robbed, shot, raped and/or murdered by some criminal that Larry Krasner just let out of jail.
John Snedden, the former NCIS special agent who hosts the podcast, kicked off the interview with Vega by saying that Search Warrant was "focusing on the disaster that is Philadelphia," and the "defense lawyer masquerading as a district attorney" named Krasner whose so-called progressive reforms of the criminal justice system are "literally killing the city."
"Parents are burying their children," Vega agreed. He talked about all the murder victims, and their grieving families, as well as the survivors of gun violence who are left scarred, paralyzed or handicapped for life.
"You just can't even go to the beach because people are staring at you," Vega said.
As someone who prosecuted more than 450 murders in 30 years, losing only 14 of those cases, Vega has seen a lot of suffering, a lot of "broken hearts."
He talked about the pressure of being a homicide prosecutor and representing the grieving family of a murder victim in a courtroom. Vega compared it to pitching in the World Series in the ninth inning with the bases loaded.
Vega talked about how, after he was hired in 1982 by then District Attorney Ed Rendell, he worked for five years as a prosecutor, winning some 40 to 50 jury trials before they would ever let him work in homicide.
As a young assistant district attorney, Vega said, "I was surrounded by lawyers who were gods," seasoned prosecutors who won the vast majority of their cases.
To become a successful prosecutor, Vega said, you have to go through a "grooming process" where you are tutored by seasoned pros. And then you have to put what you've learned into practice.
"You don't get that experience by reading a book," Vega said. "You have to be in the courtroom every day."
But that's not how Larry Krasner runs his office. When Krasner took over as D.A., the first thing he did was fire 30 of the most senior prosecutors, including Vega, who responded by filing an age discrimination lawsuit against Krasner.
Other veteran prosecutors left the D.A.'s office because they didn't want to be part of Krasner's social experiment.
To replace seasoned pros who knew what they were doing, Krasner personally recruited and hired 60 rookie lawyers straight out of law school.
"Twenty-one took the bar exam and failed," Vega said. Seven of those 21 retook the bar exam and failed again, Vega said.
As a result, the D.A.'s office is stacked with the young, the inexperienced and the incompetent. Regarding the two assistant district attorneys in Krasner's office who now run the homicide unit, Vega said, they don't have much courtroom experience prosecuting homicides.
"I don't think they've won a case," Vega said.
When you're representing the family, "it's humbling," Vega said. Seeking justice in a courtroom for a murder victim who has no voice, it's a high wire act. If you win, the family's gratitude is overwhelming, Vega said. "They'll never forget."
"I've always called them my family," Vega said about the relatives of murder victims. As a homicide prosecutor, Vega said, "I made a difference; I cared; I tried to do something."
But since Larry Krasner took over, "No one's protecting the victims, no one's speaking out for them."
When he talks to families of murder victims, Vega said, they tell him they "don't know whats going on" in the D.A.'s office with the prosecution of their loved one's case. That's because Larry Krasner doesn't care about crime victims.
Sometimes, Vega said, the only way relatives find out about Krasner's office giving a plea-bargain to the killer who murdered their loved one is when they read about in the newspaper.
Not communicating with the families of crime victims, Vega said, is "inexcusable."
Vega also denounced Krasner for hiring people to work in his office who are law-breakers. Such as the former disbarred lawyer that Krasner hired to be a senior advisor.
"You have a disbarred attorney he forged the signature of a judge," Vega said. Another one of Krasner's top aides "left their child in the car in the heat," Vega said, something you wouldn't do to a dog.
Vega didn't get around to mentioning the D.A.'s gun violence coordinator who, after arranging a rendezvous with a male prostitute during work hours, shot and killed the prostitute.
"To surround yourself with people like that who are in charge of protecting us," Vega said. "I see no accounting for what their actions are. It's shocking."
As is customary, Big Trial reached out to Krasner and his alleged spokesperson, Jane Roh, for comment, and, as is customary, Krasner and Roe did not respond.
It's nothing new. As D.A., Larry Krasner has demonstrated by stonewalling this blog for the past 17 months that he believes he's above being questioned by a member of the media who may disagree with him. Krasner prefers to speak to his official apologists at The Philadelphia Inquirer, who are down with his progressive reforms, even if they're killing black and brown people, so they continue to cover for him.
The first thing he would do as D.A., Vega said, is to "institute proper training for the lawyers there." He also pledged to repair the fractured relationships of the D.A.'s office with cops, the state attorney general's office, and the U.S. Attorney's office, all of whom are not big fans of Larry Krasner.
On the podcast, Vega, who is running in the May 18th primary, plugged his website, vegaforda.com, and gave his address for anyone who wants to contribute to his campaign:
Carlos Vega For D.A.
1515 Market Street
Suite1200
Philadelphia PA 19102.