Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks to attendees during the National Action Network National Convention in New York, Thursday, April 7, 2022. REUTERS See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has long been to the law what Philly fans are to football: they are simply willing to do things that others will not do. While Philly fans are known for taking their demonstrations to shocking levels, Krasner has long denounced adversaries as Nazis and pledged to arrest federal immigration officials.
However, a federal judge has finally had enough of the anger and antics that have long been the special brand of Philadelphia’s top prosecutor.
For full disclosure, Krasner and I went to college together at the University of Chicago in the same class in the 1980s. Since then, we have debated and disagreed on fundamental legal and ethical principles.
Krasner has long worked as a second public defender for the city, running on his work to reduce the prosecution and incarceration of accused felons. He has portrayed the criminal justice system as racist and oppressive. At the same time, he has held chest-pounding press conferences pledging to arrest FBI agents and to “hunt down” ICE officers.
His theatrics have delighted his political base and the far left. The George Soros-funded prosecutor actually adopted a campaign slogan of “F— around and find out”: in 2025. He was not referring to the criminals victimizing the city, but to federal officers seeking to enforce the law.
Last June, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court hit Krasner with a scathing opinion finding a pattern of misleading and mendacious filings by his office to undermine the criminal cases of murderers and other convicts.
The rebuke prompted a signature response from Krasner. Citing the Juneteenth anniversary, Krasner accused the Court of attacking “the value of a vote in Philadelphia” and defending his staff as merely furthering the work of racial justice.
Now, District Judge Paul Diamond, a George W. Bush appointee, has reached his own limit with Krasner. He has referred the District Attorney for investigation after taking the rare step of removing him and Assistant District Attorney Matthew Stiegler from involvement in a 2009 murder case.
Diamond wrote he had come to this decision “reluctantly” but had “concluded that Philadelphia’s highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law.”
He was referring to testimony alleging a pressure campaign against employees who raised concerns within the DA’s office over the handling of the case and the conduct of Stiegler.
Staffers were allegedly told that they could face “consequences” if they did not fall in line, and Diamond found that Krasner and Stiegler’s conduct may have amounted to perjury, obstruction of justice, false statements under oath, and conspiracy.
The underlying case involved the conviction of Dennis Johnson in 2009 for killing Kenyatta Smith.
In 2022, Krasner’s office filed to seek to help Johnson in a habeas action based on ineffective assistance of counsel.
Krasner and his assistant Stiegler assigned then-Assistant District Attorney Jaclyn Mason to the case. Diamond noted that Mason had a background in patent and trademark law and “no experience as a criminal litigator.”
What followed was a series of alleged misrepresentations to spring Johnson from prison, a pattern long associated with Krasner’s office. As Krasner and Stiegler circled the wagons in the office, there was a virtual mutiny among prosecutors who felt that the office had a conflict of interest and should not continue to handle the case.
Krasner is accused of coercing prosecutors and allegedly encouraging false and obstructive conduct. Mason was trashed, but she insisted that she was scapegoated to protect Krasner and Stiegler.
In another signature moment, Diamond accuses Krasner of referring to state lawyers in the case as “Nazis,” his favorite label for any political adversaries.
The ultimate losers, however, are the victims like Kenyatta Smith and the others cast aside by Krasner in his use of his office to fuel racial politics and a radical agenda.
As I have written in prior controversies, Krasner appears to have exhausted the patience of courts and the loyalty of staff. He is accused of being a prosecutor who not only worked to undermine criminal cases but the justice system itself. For a man who ran on the slogan “F around and find out,” Larry Krasner may soon find out.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
