Clown Show: Judge Tosses D.A.'s Faulty Murder Case Against Cop

Photo credit: Tony Spading

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

The clown show that is the Philadelphia District Attorney's office was fully exposed this afternoon in the courtroom of Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott.

At the end of a more than two-hour hearing, McDermott ruled that the D.A.'s Aug. 23, 2018 grand jury indictment of former police officer Ryan Pownall for murder was riddled with so many legal errors that she was quashing the grand jury's report, known as a presentment because it was "no good" and it's "conclusions cannot be relied on."

What was so wrong with the grand jury presentment that indicted Pownall for murder in the racially-charged 2017 shooting death of dirt biker David Jones?

Well for starters, the grand jury was run by former Assistant District Attorney Tracy Tripp, who, depending upon your viewpoint, was either [a] totally incompetent or [b] corrupt, or [c], the correct answer, both totally incompetent and corrupt.  

In the Pownall case, Krasner, who had just taken office in January 2018, was looking for the first cop he could publicly hang for murder. And that happened to be Ryan Pownall, who fatally shot Jones, who was armed and on the run, while attempting to escape arrest.

For Krasner, the scheming arsonist, it was a perfect case to make headlines because Pownall was white and Jones was black. But the problem was that Krasner's office is so lame and inept that Krasner relied on Tripp to do the job. And operating behind the closed doors of the grand jury, the rookie prosecutor completely botched the hit.

24

D.A. Enables Murder Suspect To Become Triple Murder Suspect

D.A. Krasner cuts off questions about alleged triple murderer

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

On the night of Dec. 28, 2020, Ebony Kitchen got involved in a physical altercation out in the street with a woman and a man.

What happened next was caught on surveillance video outside a smoke shop on the 5800 block of Rising Sun Avenue.

According to police, Savion Perez, who wasn't involved in the fight, went up to the 24 year-old Kitchen and shot her point-blank in the head, killing her. 

On April 2, 2021, police arrested Perez, 23, of the Juniata section of Philadelphia, and charged him with murder, conspiracy, two gun charges, and reckless endangerment. The police also arrested three co-defendants and charged them each with seven counts, including murder, conspiracy, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment.

The next stage of the criminal justice process involved a preliminary hearing, where a judge would decide whether the D.A.'s office had enough evidence to bind the defendants over for trial. But after a couple of continuances in court, on July 21, 2021, when a witness failed to appear again, Judge James DeLeon dismissed all charges against all four defendants for a lack of prosecution. 

What happened next has baffled homicide cops and former prosecutors who reviewed the case.

11

D.A. Krasner Hangs Cop Defendant Out To Dry

By Ralph Cipriano
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. 

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. 

28

For Smug And Lawless Larry Krasner, Finally A Comeuppance

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

For District Attorney Larry Krasner, it was time for some well-deserved comeuppance after his smug arrogance and lawless nature finally caught up with him.

On Monday, an angry federal judge, U.S. District Court Judge Mitchell Goldberg, officially sanctioned the D.A.'s office for an "egregious" and "exceptional" lack of candor, which in legal speak means that the judge got pissed after he caught three of Krasner's top supervisors repeatedly lying to him.

Then, the federal judge ordered Krasner to personally apologize in writing to a crime victim, as well as three of her family members, for not informing her and them -- as required by law -- that Krasner had intervened in the case and was conspiring with defense lawyers to let the vicious killer of her parents off death row.

As D.A., Krasner a former career criminal defense lawyer, has routinely placed the welfare of criminals  above the rights of crime victims, whom he often callously ignores in his progressive crusade to empty the jails. At issue with Judge Goldberg was the case of Robert Wharton, who, with a co-defendant, was convicted in 1984 of strangling and drowning to death a minister's son and his wife. 

After Wharton and his co-defendant got through brutally murdering the couple and ransacking their home, they turned off the heat in the dead of winter and left the couple's infant daughter, then 7-months old, alone to freeze to death. Before they left, the killers even stole the infant's crib. This is the crime victim, now 38, whom Krasner had intentionally snubbed.

16

Larry Krasner's Impeachment Defense: Four Big Lies & A Cover Up

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

A trio of lawyers representing Larry Krasner filed a petition in Commonwealth Court last week that seeks to prevent the state House of Representatives from impeaching the D.A.

There's simply no honest way to defend Krasner's horrendous record on prosecuting crime. So to get the D.A. out of a political jam, Krasner's legal team had to resort to telling four big lies. They also had to circle the wagons around an ongoing cover up of Krasner's blatant prosecutorial misconduct in a high profile murder case involving a cop. 

Here's the lies that Krasner's defense team is peddling:

Big Lie No. 1 -- Krasner is not really "soft on crime."

Big Lie No. 2 -- Here, Krasner's legal defense team kicked it up a notch with this whopper -- "Truth be told, the DAO under District Attorney Krasner has been very effective in prosecuting crime."

Big Lie No. 3 -- The D.A., well known for cooking up his own crime stats, supposedly has a conviction rate in homicide cases at trial of "just shy of 90%." Yeah, right.

Big Lie No. 4 -- The D.A. allegedly hands out tough sentences on gun crimes. Well, not really.

Sadly, Big Trial is the only media outlet in town that will use readily available stats from the D.A.'s own Public Data Dashboard, as well as court records, to debunk these blatant lies. 

We'll also explain the ongoing cover up in the D.A.'s office that involves Krasner's defense team trying to hide the complete files and corrupt grand jury proceedings in the case of former Police Officer Ryan Pownall, whom Krasner falsely indicted for murder.

16

Confronted About 3 Carpetbaggers In His Office, Krasner Flees

Larry Krasner realizes he can't handle the truth

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At his regular Monday morning press conference today, District Attorney Larry Krasner refused to answer my questions about his office's high-ranking trio of carpetbaggers.

We're talking about three top supervisors in the D.A.'s office who earn a total of more than $500,000 annually, but have been outed by Big Trial for flagrantly violating the City Charter's residency requirement. 

That's an offense that before Krasner became D.A., used to be grounds for getting an employee fired. But since we have a D.A. who picks and chooses which laws he wants to enforce, doesn't pay his taxes, and ignores subpoenas from the state legislature, it's not much of a stretch for Krasner to act like the City Charter's residency requirement doesn't apply to his office.

Because as D.A., Larry Krasner believes he's above the law.

At the podium today, Krasner tried to insist on a format of calling on individual reporters so he could continue his unconstitutional practice of taking questions from every other reporter in town except your Big Trial correspondent. But this week, I decided I wasn't gonna play along.

"Mr. Krasner, Mr. Krasner," I began by interrupting him when he was trying to call on another reporter.

"Excuse me, no outbursts, sir," Krasner lectured, while sternly wagging a finger at me. "We are going in order."

An order that always excludes me. 

20

Krasner's Top ADA Is An Out-Of-Town Voting Fraud

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Robert Listenbee, Larry Krasner's First Assistant District Attorney for the past past five years, is legally required by the City Charter to live in Philadelphia. 

But for the past 25 years, Listenbee and his wife, Sabrina, have lived in a single-family, two-bedroom home in Glenside that the couple bought in 1997.

To get around the residency requirement, Listenbee, 74, who, as Krasner's top supervisor, is paid $187,171, has used as his address an apartment that he rents at 7720 Stenton Avenue in East Mount Airy where his daughter lives.

That's also where Listenbee is registered to vote, in East Mount Airy. So when he voted in the presidential election in November 2020, and in the election for D.A. last November, as confirmed by the Philadelphia Board of Elections, Listenbee was committing voter fraud. 

Under Pennsylvania State Statute Sec. 3533, unlawful voting is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by either a fine of up to $10,000, and/or a prison term of up to 5 years.

The first district attorney's flouting of the residency requirement is not exactly a big secret. A colleague said that Listenbee openly admitted to him that he doesn't live in Philadelphia. Earlier this month, Listenbee's wife posted photos on Facebook that showed she and her husband biking near their home in Glenside, as well as a photo of a man removing a dead snake from their suburban yard.

15

Like A Scared Rabbit, D.A. Krasner Flees Own Press Conference

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The district attorney of Philadelphia today fled a press conference again on foot rather than take questions from this reporter.

Before he turned tail and ran, Larry Krasner announced to a sparse group of reporters the ground rules for his weekly press conference.

"Alright, as always we are going to proceed by way of calling on journalists who are in this room and seeing if they have questions," the D.A. announced, before warning,  "If there are any outbursts, we're not going to tolerate that."

"First, we have John from Action News Six," the D.A. began. "Do you have anything, sir?" 

But John from Action News got an urgent call on his cell phone and had to race out of the room. So he didn't have any questions for the obsequious D.A., who apologized to John for interrupting his call.  

Next, a visibly rattled-looking Krasner called on "Jack from NBC 10." But much to the D.A.'s dismay, Jack didn't have any questions. Neither did "Tina from Fox 29."

"I've got questions," I volunteered. But Krasner had no intention of answering any of them.

"Hold on, sir," the D.A. said, before he took three straight questions from Tom MacDonald from WHYY. Then, the D.A. suddenly realized that there was only one reporter left in the room that he hadn't called on.

"I've got a question," I reminded Krasner. 

But more than a month ahead of rabbit season in Pennsylvania, Larry Krasner stood up on his hind legs. His nose was twitching, his slender ears were erect. While he was sniffing the air, Krasner instinctively sensed danger.

The media wasn't going to throw him any softball questions; the only thing left for Krasner to deal with were some hardballs from Big Trial. So for the fourth time in six weeks, Larry Krasner, a grown man who's allegedly the top law enforcement official in Philadelphia, had to flee his own press conference rather than face tough questions from a reporter.  

7

Philly D.A. Krasner Lied To NYT About Gun Crime Recidivism

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

District Attorney Larry Krasner told The New York Times last week that only a "small fraction" of the people  who were arrested and charged with illegally carrying guns have been rearrested for allegedly committing violent crimes. 

But crime stats tracked by Big Trial for the past four years show that more than 40% of the people who were originally arrested for illegally carrying guns during two summer months in 2019 have been rearrested and charged with new violent crimes that include nonfatal shootings, murders, rapes and carjackings. 

To make matters worse, the NYT story was published three days after a press conference in Philadelphia, where the D.A. bragged to local reporters about how tough he'd been on two gang members who'd just been sentenced for a wave of gang-related shootings back in 2018 and 2019. 

But court records reveal that both gang members were part of Krasner's "small fraction" who were originally arrested for illegally carrying guns. And then, after they were set free by a combination of a light sentence and low bail, or the D.A.'s office just plain dropped the charges, the two gang members went out and committed violent crimes.

And when the two gang members were arrested again and convicted for committing violent crimes, the D.A.'s office under Krasner didn't exactly crack down on them, as Krasner would have you believe. Instead, the D.A.'s office under Krasner gave the two gang members plea bargains that were so lenient they amounted to deals too good to turn down.

So Krasner was lying about that small fraction of illegal gun carriers who get rearrested for violent crimes, and he was lying about getting tough on those two gang members.

But as usual when he deals with gullible progressive media outlets, Krasner got away with both lies, with the exception of Big Trial. At the press conference here in Philadelphia, I twice attempted to question Krasner about a lenient sentence that one of those gang members received. 

And Krasner's response was to order the police to forcibly evict me from the building, a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. 

6

The Screaming Totalitarian Inside Progressive Larry Krasner

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Back in 2000, when he was a ponytailed civil rights lawyer representing protesters at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Larry Krasner claimed to be a champion of the First Amendment.

"The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution strictly protects free speech from preemptive suppression, because the loss of that illegally suppressed speech can never be restored," Krasner wrote in his 2021 book, For The People; A Story of Justice and Power.

In his book, Krasner recounted how upset he was when he heard that a judge who was a former cop was talking openly about a secret government plan to detain protesters until the Republican convention was over.

To make matters worse, Krasner wrote, "the police were giving off signs that they planned to crack down on free speech," which Krasner described as the protesters' "sacred" right. 

But as District Attorney on Monday, Krasner that former champion of the First Amendment, ordered two police officers to preemptively suppress my right to free speech by evicting me under threat of force from a press conference that the D.A. held at the Emmanuel Christian Center in West Philly. 

Why was I evicted? Because three times at that press conference, I tried to ask Krasner a question. 

In behaving like a dictator, Krasner proved David Horowitz's maxim that "Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out."

13

Krasner Orders Reporter Evicted From Press Conference

Larry Krasner Orders Detective To Evict Reporter

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At a press conference today, I tried to ask District Attorney Larry Krasner a question.

Actually, I tried to ask him a question three different times. 

The first time I spoke up, Krasner issued a stern warning.

"That is not how we proceed," Krasner admonished me. After four years of presiding over free-for-all press conferences, the D.A. now maintains that reporters no longer have the right to speak up and ask him a question. Instead, the D.A. says, like kindergarteners at show-and-tell, they have to be called on first before they can speak.

And the one reporter Krasner never calls on is me. 

"Anyone who cannot observe those rules can leave and can leave now or be escorted out," the D.A. warned the press corps. 

The second time today that I dared to ask the D.A. a question, Krasner gave me another warning. The next and last time I asked, Krasner hit the eject button.

"Sir, that is the third time," Krasner said, pointing his right index finger toward the exits. "Detective [Tom] Kolenkiewicz, will you please escort him out."

As the dictatorial Krasner  looked on, Detective Kolenkiewicz grabbed my arm. And then the detective and another member of the D.A.'s security team, Police Officer Chad Jeter, plus a third security officer from the church where Krasner was holding his press conference, surrounded me and escorted me out of the building. 

My crime: daring to ask the D.A. a question at a press conference.

37

Senior Advisor To D.A. Krasner Is Disbarred Lawyer Who Lives In N.J.

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

On May 11, 2020, the Rev. Gregory Holston, a senior advisor on advocacy and policy to District Attorney Larry Krasner, got an email about time cards from the office's head of Human Resources.

In response, Holston, probably by mistake, hit the reply all button.

“Good morning," Holston wrote in an email sent to everyone in the office. "I’m coming up on my six month[s] with the district attorney’s office."

"I live in New Jersey and I’m supposed to move to Philadelphia by July," Holston wrote. "Because of the pandemic, I’ve been unable to search for a new home. Will I have additional time to move to Philadelphia? Rev.”

Yes, rest assured, Rev., you'll have plenty of time to move to Philadelphia. Because more than two years later, the Rev. Holston, who is paid $140,000 annually by D.A. Krasner, still lives in Sicklerville, N.J. in the house he bought back in 2003, in the community where he's registered to vote.

The Philadelphia City Charter requires all employees of the district attorney's office to live in Philadelphia; in the past, city employees have been fired for flouting the residency requirement. But apparently that clause in the city charter doesn't mean much to Rev. Holston, or his boss, D.A. Larry Krasner.

Holston is the second official in upper management in the D.A.'s office to be outed in less than a week by Big Trial for flagrantly flouting the city charter's residency requirement. The first was Nancy Winkelman, the supervisor of the D.A.'s law division, who twice listed on campaign finance reports last year a phony address in West Philadelphia, a rundown rental property with a coffin in front, when Winkelman really lives in a house on a scenic lake in Medford Lakes, N.J.

While Winkelman recently lectured a federal judge that "My integrity, my reputation, my candor, my ethics have never been questioned," the Rev. Holston can't make that same speech. Because like too many employees in D.A. Krasner's office, Holston has skeletons in his closet.

26

Top Larry Krasner Supervisor Who Said Her Integrity Has Never Been Questioned Falsely Claimed She Lived In The 'Hood'

Winkelman's "residence" features a coffin

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Nancy Winkelman, supervisor of the law division in Philly D.A. Larry Krasner's office, is a woman of integrity.

Just ask her.

"My professional reputation is extraordinarily important to me," Deputy District Attorney Winkelman told U.S. District Court Judge Mitchell Goldberg during a June 23rd hearing, where the judge had summoned Winkelman to explain what His Honor described as a "lack of candor."

"My integrity, my reputation, my candor, my ethics have never been questioned," Winkelman lectured the judge. "And it's something I take very, very seriously," she said, adding that she was "stunned" to learn that the judge had dared to question her integrity.

But this self-proclaimed woman of integrity, who gets paid $176,171 a year, has a dirty little secret. According to two of D.A. Krasner's campaign finance reports filed last year with the city's Board of Ethics, when Winkelman gave her boss a $1,000 donation on March 18, 2021, and a $500 donation on April 10, 2021, she twice declared that she lives in a rundown rental property featuring one and two-bedroom apartments and a coffin in front at 650 S. 51st Street in West Philadelphia.

Winkelman, who, as an employee of the D.A.'s office since 2018, is required by the city charter to live in Philadelphia. But where she really lives is in a house on a scenic lake in rural Medford Lakes, N.J., that according to Burlington County property records, she has owned since Sept. 21, 2015. It's a house with a new deck, a sunken hot tub, and a Koi pond that has an estimated value of more than $750,000. That's where a recent visitor to her home found her. 

According to New Jersey voting records, Winkelman, who did not respond to requests for comment, is currently registered to vote in the borough of Medford Lakes. A car parked in her driveway has a New Jersey license plate.

It's a cozy set up. Winkelman only shows up at the D.A.'s office twice a week. There, she's a top honcho in Larry Krasner's office where his lenient treatment of criminals has raised the local murder rate from 315 in 2017, when Krasner first got elected, to an all-time record of 562 last year, a 78% increase. [As of yesterday the city has already racked up 306 murders this year, just two percent off last year's record pace.]

But Winkelman, the self-proclaimed woman of integrity, doesn't have to worry about the consequences of running into any of the armed and dangerous criminals that her boss, known as "Let 'Em Loose Larry," routinely lets out of jail.

33

State Supreme Court Justice: Larry Krasner 'Abused' Grand Jury Process And 'Slanted' Grand Jury Report To Indict Cop For Murder

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty today charged Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner with abusing the grand jury process in his crusade to indict former Police Officer Ryan Pownall for murder in a racially charged officer-involved shooting case.

According to what Dougherty wrote in a concurring opinion, 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."

Dougherty's formal admonishment of the D.A.'s office was a double-barreled loss today for Krasner, who is being threatened with impeachment by the state House of Representatives. In a 4-2 majority opinion issued today, the state Supreme Court ruled against the D.A.'s office in a key issue in the Pownall case.

What the Supreme Court did today was to uphold an earlier ruling by the state Superior Court that said the D.A.'s office couldn't seek retroactively rewrite the law about justifiable use of deadly force by a police officer, so that former Officer Pownall could be convicted of murder.

In their unsuccessful appeals, the D.A.'s office was trying to get around a state statute that says a police officer is "justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person."

The law goes on to say that the officer must believe "such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape," or if the suspect "has committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and possesses a deadly weapon."

In the opinion of one of the detectives who investigated the Pownall case on behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department, Derrick Jacobs, that's exactly what happened. And that's why Krasner wanted to retroactively change the law so he could hang a police officer. 

But that's not what a "minister of justice" is supposed to be doing.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Dougherty blasted the D.A.'s handling of the Pownall case as full of prosecutorial misconduct. He said that Krasner's office didn't fully inform the grand jury of the relevant  law involving justifiable use of force by a police officer. And that's why the grand jury produced a "slanted" report that Krasner's office subsequently fed to a complicit and uncritical media,  so they would run with Krasner's twisted version of the facts. 

20

Terrified Larry Krasner Runs And Hides From Reporter

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At a press conference today, a visibly nervous and fidgety Larry Krasner went out of his way to ignore repeated questions about the sweetheart deal his office gave Derrick Jones, the allegedly deranged killer accused of stalking and  executing three SEPTA riders. 

"And I am going to ask if there are any questions," Krasner said, before throwing his weekly press conference open to reporters.

"However, instead of our usual scrum, and I say that respectfully, I think there are occasions where some journalists who are the most aggressive get most of the attention," Krasner said. "That doesn't seem fair to me."

Anybody who's watched the tame press conferences broadcast online that follow Krasner's weekly Monday morning dog-and-pony shows would have to wonder what scrums the D.A. was talking about. The entire local press corps is better known for its docile passivity when dealing with Krasner.

The D.A.'s press conferences are so dull that one local TV station has taken to just sending a film crew over to record the proceedings without bringing along any reporter who might dare to challenge what our frequently delusional D.A. has to say. 

But that didn't stop the D.A. today from inventing a solution to the non-existent problem of those violent reporters' scrums that exist only in Krasner's imagination. The D.A. proceeded to calm a potential journalistic riot by calling on individual reporters from his right to his left, to see if they had any questions.

 My problem was that I was the last guy to the left of Krasner. And the previous week, he had actually hustled out of a press conference rather than answer any of my questions. So I was determined not to let him get away with ducking me again. 

"I'm just gonna go down the line and see if there are any questions from the journalists who are here," Krasner said.

"What about Derrick Jones?" I interrupted. 

"Excuse me sir," Krasner said. "As I said, we're not gonna have a scrum. We're gonna start over here. Mr. Dean?" he began, before taking several questions from Mensah Dean of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

29

Accused SEPTA Serial Killer Should Have Been In Jail

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Derrick Jones, the 21-year-old suspect that police say got on SEPTA buses and trains in the past two weeks and randomly hunted down and executed three passengers, should have been in jail rather than out on a killing spree.

That's because when Jones was arrested as an adult on Jan. 14, 2019, and was hit with three gun charges, he was already on probation as a juvenile after he had twice entered the equivalent of a guilty finding in two previous felony cases.

But as what typically happens under District Attorney Larry Krasner, Jones, a suspect with a criminal record who was facing a gun charge, pleaded guilty in a negotiated plea bargain with the D.A.'s office and got a sweetheart deal, a sentence of 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail, plus two years probation.

Jones wound up serving only 11 1/2 months in jail, court records show, before he was released on house arrest. A seasoned prosecutor who reviewed Jones's record, however, said that under state sentencing guidelines promulgated by the state legislature, Jones, because he was a previous offender on probation, should have gotten a sentence of a minimum of three to six years in jail.

Instead, the seasoned prosecutor said, Jones got a generous plea bargain that the D.A.'s office, under Larry Krasner, routinely gives out in 95% of cases when somebody with a previous criminal record is charged with a gun crime.

"This why the state legislature is investigating whether the D.A. has committed a dereliction of duty" as grounds for impeachment, said the seasoned prosecutor who requested anonymity. "Larry Krasner refuses to enforce the law. This is exactly what the state Legislature is talking about when it comes to the D.A. failing to enforce the gun laws already on the books."

The plea bargain that Jones got from Larry Krasner's office is "so far outside the sentencing guidelines that you've obliterated the guidelines," the seasoned prosecutor said. And when a dangerous criminal is given a light sentence, you're always taking the chance that he will go out and commit more crimes, and victimize more people. 

The three SEPTA murders, the seasoned prosecutor said, are the "logical result of Krasner's policies." And, according to the police, there may be more victims as they continue to investigate Jones as a possible serial killer. 

14

D.A. Krasner Tells City Council A Fairy Tale About Drugs In Portugal

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At an April 26th budget hearing, District Attorney Larry Krasner told the City Council a fairy tale about Portugal, which Krasner claimed has become a progressive paradise since the country decriminalized drug use in 2000.

In 2019, Krasner, along with some 20 other progressive prosecutors, took a trip to Portugal. The junket was sponsored by Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit that supports progressive prosecutors like Krasner from coast to coast. 

The Philly D.A. has since become an enthusiastic advocate of Portuguese reforms, which he told the City Council if deployed here, would clean up Kensington. But what the D.A. told gullible City Council members about Portugal is not factually true but just a fantasy that exists only in Krasner's head.

Besides distorting the truth, the D.A.'s speech was also hypocritical. Why? Because the diversionary programs that Krasner claimed worked so well in Portugal are similar to the diversionary programs that Krasner's policies have worked to kill off here in Philadelphia. 

Krasner's speech also paves over the inconvenient truth that back in 2018, Krasner was summoned to  the mayor's conference room and asked to assist a task force that Mayor Kenney had formed with the police and several other city agencies to treat the drug crisis in Kensington.

And Krasner's response was to basically tell the mayor to go f---k himself. The D.A. stormed out of the room that day, but not before he disrespected everybody, and told all the city officials assembled there that he wouldn't lift a finger to aid the task force in Kensington.  

2

At 'Private' Press Conference, Larry Krasner Hides From BigTrial.net

The D.A. hides & glares at me

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

For three years now, District Attorney Larry Krasner has been stonewalling me.

Every week, I've been emailing Larry Krasner one question after another at both of his email addresses, larry.krasner@phila.gov, and lawrence.krasner@phila.gov. [The D.A. is so important that he has two official government emails.]

And for three years now, he's been stiffing me. He never responds. Neither does his official spokesperson, Jane Roh [jane.roh@phila.gov]. This from the guy who on the campaign trail promised to be the most transparent Philly D.A. ever.

So today, I decided to stop by one of Krasner's weekly press conferences, which typically feature a dog-and-pony show, and long speeches from Larry on his soap box. 

Krasner's press conferences typically end with a weekly Q & A with the media. So I was hoping that maybe I could bark out a question above the rabble, and for once, get a straight answer out of our D.A.

The problems started when I attempted to enter the press conference shortly before 11 a.m. Police Officer Agnes Torres of Krasner's security detail promptly informed me that the D.A. was holding was a "private press conference" and that I wasn't allowed to come in. 

With my cell phone video running, I then invited P.O. Torres to explain the concept of a private press conference to Big Trial readers, one of the most avid of whom is reputed to be Larry himself. That's when P.O. Torres ordered me to take my hand off the door knob, and then she locked the door between us.

19

Larry Krasner Hires A Jazz Guitarist To Prosecute A Rape Case

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Last November, Anthony Nelson, a 46 year-old convicted felon, went on trial on charges that he had repeatedly raped his live-in girlfriend's 15 year-old daughter.

From the motions filed in the case, it looked like a slam dunk. That's because the D.A. had as evidence a series of nearly 90 incriminating text messages exchanged between the defendant, known as "Pop," and the alleged victim whom Pop refers to as "Boo boo."

"So you're mad because I don't want you to touch me anymore?" the alleged victim texted Pop. "I'm 15 . . . Isn't Mom enough?" To which the defendant replied, "I run this house you hear me?" And, "You turn me on you know what you be doing. So cut it." 

What happened next is a textbook example of how the incompetence of the dysfunctional D.A.'s office under Larry Krasner enabled an "armed and dangerous" defendant to beat the rape charges, and then go out and allegedly victimize another young woman.

That would be Jailene Holton, 21, the innocent bystander pictured above. Police say that on June 28th, Nelson, in a rage after he lost a dispute over the availability of a pool table, opened fire on the front of a Northeast Philadelphia bar. One of more than 15 shots struck Holton in the head, killing her. 

Rather than being out on the street, Nelson, according to prosecutors familiar with the rape case, should have been in jail doing time. But that would have required a competent prosecutor who knew how to try a rape case.

Instead, court records show that over a 17-month period in 2020 and 2021, the rape case against Nelson was juggled in court by a half-dozen of Krasner's bungling junior prosecutors, who are inexperienced, poorly trained, and have no idea what they're doing.

Especially the jazz guitarist who wound up losing the case.

19

Larry Krasner Blows A Dog Whistle

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

At an April 26th budget hearing, City Council member David Oh asked District Attorney Larry Krasner a simple question. 

"Do you believe that Philadelphia, right now, today, has a reputation, inside and outside of the city, as a lawless city where crimes of all sorts can be committed without the certainty of apprehension or punishment," Oh asked. "Do you believe that to be true or not true?"

Rather than admit that he was the single person most responsible for Philadelphia's descent into lawlessness, Krasner tried to get himself out of a political jam by resorting to some incendiary rhetoric. To do that, the Philly D.A. had to go back more than half a century to dig up a couple of disgraced politicians who were long dead, but on the tongue of a demagogue, could still be useful as straw men. 

"I got to be honest with you, when I hear the word lawless, my hair sticks up on the back of my neck," Krasner lectured Oh, an Asian-American who's a Republican. "And it sticks up because I remember in 1968, when Richard Nixon, a criminal, and Spiro Agnew, his vice president candidate at their convention -- he was also a criminal, he took bribes and had to be removed from office -- kept calling every American city . . . that had a lot of black and brown people lawless."

Nixon's been dead for 28 years, Agnew, 26 years. And never mind that back in 1968, Philadelphia, with a larger population than it has today, had only had 262 murders, compared to the all-time record the city set last year under Krasner with 562 murders. 

But that didn't stop Krasner from informing Oh that in describing Philadelphia as "lawless," the city council member was guilty of invoking a racist "code word" used by Nixon and his fellow Republicans before they devised their infamous "southern strategy" to openly stoke the fears and resentments of whites toward blacks. 

"It is a dog whistle," Krasner admonished Council member Oh about his use of the word lawless. "It's not my word. I'm not the one using Richard Nixon's word."

18