The move to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is back in action this week, with Pennsylvania state Rep. Craig Williams announcing that the House managers in Krasner’s impeachment trial have filed a 100-page appeal in the state Supreme Court, accusing Mr. Krasner of criminal conduct.
In November, the state Senate voted to call Mr. Krasner to a trial to answer for seven articles of impeachment against him, which if supported could result in his removal from office.
Mr. Krasner appealed to the Commonwealth Court asking to have the articles set aside. After many delays, the court decided the articles of impeachment did not constitute misconduct in office.
“They relied principally on the idea that, in some of these articles, we cited ethics rules rather than criminal statutes, and they did nothing whatsoever to analyze the actual behavior that was alleged,” Mr. Williams, a former federal prosecutor told The Epoch Times in a phone interview. Mr. Williams, a Republican, is chairman of the House impeachment managers.
“The lower court determined that the articles improperly used the ethics rules as a basis for determining whether DA Krasner’s conduct was unlawful. We have argued that the very same conduct might have just as easily been alleged as crimes. The lower court did no analysis of the unlawful behavior itself,” Mr. Williams said in a statement on the matter.
Soros-Backed DA
Mr. Krasner first took office in 2018. His was one of several key district attorney campaigns that was funded in part by billionaire George Soros who supports leftist progressive policies.
In his office, Mr. Krasner has loosened responses to drug, gun, and prostitution crimes, and under his watch, homicide and other violent crimes have climbed in Philadelphia.
“Pennsylvania’s official oppression statute makes it a crime for a public official to knowingly and intentionally deprive another’s legal rights. The articles are replete with instances where DA Krasner used his office to do exactly that, be it police officers, family members of murder victims, or other crime victims. In fact, the many alleged instances of DA Krasner and his office lying to the courts constitute overt acts in furtherance of several instances of official oppression—a crime,” Mr. Williams alleges.
By Beth Brelje
