At Yesterday's Press Conference, D.A. Krasner Covered Up For Aide Accused In Road Rage Incident Involving FBI Agent

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

At a press conference yesterday, District Attorney Larry Krasner was asked what he knew about a Big Trial report that G. Lamar Stewart, Krasner's chief of community engagement, was accused in an alleged road rage incident involving an FBI agent.

Instead of answering the question, Krasner proceeded to cover for yet another one of his staffers accused of misconduct by trying to trash me.

"I know the source of that report is highly unreliable," Krasner volunteered to the assembled reporters. The D.A. then revealed that although he's a faithful Big Trial reader, he's not exactly a fan.

"Unfortunately the source of that report is someone whom I can say looking back over more than three years of watching his coverage, I have never seen [him] provide truthful and consistently reliable information," Krasner told the assembled reporters. "In my opinion, he should write fiction."

Krasner then proceeded to fake an attempt at transparency while pandering to all of the reporters in the room, especially his fellow progressives at The Philadelphia Inquirer, who make it a regular habit to cover for Krasner's wretched performance as D.A. 

"I can tell you that if there is reliable information that indicates there's an issue to address than we will address it," Krasner assured the reporters. "But in my opinion, all of you legitimate journalists, and I say that with respect, can do a much better job than that source of information."

When asked again if he knew anything about the alleged road rage incident, Krasner said, "I have no further comment on that."

Sorry, Mr. Krasner, but instead of a work of fiction, there's a police report that documents all of the relevant details of the story that I published about G. Lamar Stewart, including the name and the first-hand account of the FBI agent who's accused Stewart of misconduct. And I'm happy to share.

Top Krasner Aide Involved In Road Rage Incident With FBI Agent

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At approximately 9:15 a.m. Friday morning on Lincoln Drive, several police sources say, G. Lamar Stewart of the Philadelphia District Attorney's office used his lights and siren to pull over the driver of a Chevy Suburban whom Stewart claimed had allegedly cut him off in traffic.

Problem No. 1 was that Stewart, who is D.A. Larry Krasner's chief of community engagement, was not in uniform and was driving a unmarked police car, so he didn't have the authority to pull anyone over.

Problem No. 2 was that the driver of the Chevy Suburban turned out to be an FBI agent who flashed his badge at Stewart, and asked to see Stewart's ID. 

Stewart, according to several police sources, responded by hopping in his black Ford Crown Vic and taking off, with the FBI agent in pursuit. On police radio, the FBI agent asked for assistance, saying he was a federal agent who needed police help in stopping a black Ford CrownVic that he was following.

When Stewart pulled over at a car wash on Wayne Avenue, several police sources said, he allegedly refused again to show his ID to the FBI agent. When several cops from the 14th District arrived at the scene, they found Stewart shouting at the agent, sources said. And when the cops asked to see Stewart's badge, he repeatedly refused to cooperate with them as well.

"He was very unprofessional," one cop source said.

Krasner Strikes Again! D.A. Gave Career Thief Caught On Video A Couple Of Passes; Now He's Locked Up Again For Attempted Murder

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The case of Joseph Scott, a career criminal, provides a textbook example of how the permissive policies and incompetence of Larry Krasner's bumbling D.A.'s office leads to more crime.

As Big Trial has previously reported, on Oct 8th, 2020, cops from the 26th Police District apprehended Scott after a chase on foot. While Scott was in custody, police showed him a surveillance video that captured him and an associate trying to steal a catalytic converter. 

Scott waived his Miranda rights and gave a statement saying yes, indeed, that was him on the video. The cops charged Scott, then 35, of the 2000 block of East Letterly Street, with theft, criminal mischief, and criminal conspiracy. 

Scott was a familiar face at the 26th Police District; his rap sheet featured six arrests, including three thefts, two aggravated assaults, narcotics, and illegally carrying firearms. He was out on bail after being arrested just two months earlier, in August of 2020, for stealing another catalytic converter.

But when Scott's more recent arrest for the theft of a catalytic converter went to the district attorney's office for prosecution last October, Assistant District Attorney Joo Kim declined to prosecute the case, claiming there was insufficient evidence.

Inky Publisher Goes Bonkers Over Systemic Racism

Flickr Commons/Kenny Maths

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer has served official notice that both she and her newspaper have gone stark raving bonkers over the perceived plague of systemic racism.

In a Sunday column, publisher and CEO Elizabeth "Lisa" Hughes branded her own newspaper as racist for having published a headline last June 2nd that said, "Buildings Matter, Too."

As far as Hughes is concerned, it's a date that will live in infamy because that headline committed the "grievous and unpardonable offense" of offending Black Lives Matter.

Next, reprising Martin Luther's unhappy stint as a monk, Hughes divulged that after a full year of confession, multiple acts of contrition, as well as weekly self-flagellation sessions, she and her entire staff are still trying vainly to cleanse themselves of racism.

And according to Hughes, it's not only the Inquirer that's racist, but so is virtually every other institution in Philadelphia.

And Hughes wants to prove it. In a company-wide email sent out last month, Hughes announced an ambitious new project, "A More Perfect Union," financed by a $1.3 million grant from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. 

That project will commission a team of journalists to not only root out systemic racism at the Inquirer, Hughes wrote, but also at every major institution founded in Philadelphia that "contributed to historical indifference and antagonism toward Black, brown, and other underserved communities."

Joe Bologna's Lawyers Seek To End D.A.'s 'Despicable' Prosecution

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The District Attorney of Philadelphia is not supposed to be just an advocate; he's also supposed to be a minister of justice.

According to Rule 3.8 of the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a prosecutor has a "special responsibility" to see to it that a defendant is "accorded procedural justice," and that guilt in a criminal case is "decided upon the basis of sufficient evidence." 

The ABA also requires that a minister of justice “refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause.”

In Philadelphia, however, District Attorney Larry Krasner has made a habit out of ignoring his responsibilities as a minister of justice whenever he indicts a police officer. Or as the lawyers for former Staff Inspector Joe Bologna have described it, there's a "disturbing and despicable trend on the part of the Philadelphia’s District Attorney’s office to bring criminal charges against police officers without proper investigation and without sufficient probable cause."

That's why Fortunato Perri Jr. and Brian McMonagle went to court last week to file a motion on behalf of Bologna, asking a Common Pleas Court judge to deny Krasner's motion to refile criminal charges against the former staff inspector when his case comes up again in court on June 30th.

The Real Losers In The D.A.'s Race: Brady, Rendell And The Dems

By A. Benjamin Mannes

For BigTrial.net

The heated 2021 primary election between Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and former Chief Homicide Prosecutor Carlos Vega ended with Krasner winning the Democratic primary by a 65% to 35% margin. 

While Krasner touted his victory as a stamp of approval for his radical social justice agenda which has limited cash bail and charging for a myriad of crimes, the extremely poor voter turnout shows that real loser of the election was not Vega, but former Gov. Ed Rendell and Democratic party chairman Bob Brady. This paints a dire picture for the Democratic power base that has controlled the city for the last 69 years. 

“We hear all this talk about how somehow progressive prosecution can’t survive,” Krasner said in his victory speech Tuesday night. “That’s not what I see. What I see is that traditional prosecution can’t survive.”

Krasner’s victory came amid an election with an anemic voter turnout of 17.91%, which was lower than normal for the traditionally low voter turnouts seen in municipal-only elections. 

In comparing Krasner’s 2021 votes to those he received four years ago, the incumbent D.A.’s strategy of investing “street money” to get out the vote in African American strongholds like West Philadelphia paired with Krasner’s devout cadre of young, white, progressive voters held true. 

Josh Shapiro Gets His Pound Of Flesh

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net 

In the end, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro got his pound of flesh.

A grandstanding Shapiro shamelessly took credit yesterday for sending former Penn State President Graham Spanier off to jail for two months, even though Spanier is still recovering from open heart surgery, and also suffers from advanced, metastasized prostate cancer. 

Spanier's lawyers were worried that behind bars, if their client contracts COVID, it may amount to a death sentence. If ever there was an occasion for mercy, this was it. Spanier was a 72-year-old non-violent offender with a spotless record convicted of a single misdemeanor. But as far as Shapiro was concerned, he was more than willing to risk Spanier's life for the sake of political theater. 

"Today marks the end of a long road towards justice for the children endangered by Mr. Spanier’s inaction— choosing to cover up the abuse at the hands of Jerry Sandusky rather than reporting it to law enforcement," Shapiro stated in a self-serving press release. 

"No one is above the law, and my office will continue to pursue anyone who looks the other way in the face of child sexual abuse," Shapiro claimed. "There are consequences for failing to protect children in Pennsylvania.”

And in Pennsylvania, as Shapiro proved yesterday, there are no consequences for an attorney general's office that continues to act as if it's above the law. And there are no consequences for an attorney general's office that looks the other way and continues to cover up its own proven track record of corruption in the Penn State case from start to finish.

An Open Letter To Judge Boccabella

An Open Letter to Judge John Boccabella:

We are encouraging you to give careful consideration in adjudicating the egregious miscarriage of justice in the misdemeanor case against Dr. Graham Spanier, the former President of the Pennsylvania State University.

In this misdemeanor case, any form of incarceration of Dr. Spanier, a 72 year-old, non-violent individual with no criminal history and serious medical conditions, serves only as vengeance and has no socially-redeeming value.

Due to Dr. Spanier’s medical conditions, specifically late stage cancer and substantive heart problems, recklessly exposing him to the inherent dangers of incarceration, which includes COVID, would be tantamount to a death sentence.

Notwithstanding Dr. Spanier’s extremely severe medical conditions, this case has been fraught with blatant prosecutorial misconduct, violation of constitutional rights, collusion, witness tampering and jury tampering accomplished by prosecutorial and investigative entities some of whom have since been disciplined for their actions in this case.