{"id":22441,"date":"2021-04-20T16:45:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T23:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=22441"},"modified":"2023-08-25T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T18:00:00","slug":"before-krasner-the-wild-and-wooly-saga-of-philadelphia-district-attorneys","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/before-krasner-the-wild-and-wooly-saga-of-philadelphia-district-attorneys\/","title":{"rendered":"Before Krasner: The Wild and Wooly Saga of Philadelphia District Attorneys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Sharon Pruitt-Young<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a world-changing moment for the city of Philadelphia: <strong>Larry Krasner<\/strong>, a former criminal defense attorney and a highly polarizing figure in local politics, was elected as the city\u2019s 26<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> district attorney in November 2017, defeating Republican candidate and former assistant D.A. Beth Grossman for the victory. As seen in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/philly-da\/\"><em><strong>Philly D.A.<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, it was the final and most important win for Krasner, who\u2019d already beat out six other Democratic candidates in the primary election months earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on where you stood, Krasner\u2019s win was either going to be the first step toward implementing monumental change, or it was the biggest mistake in the city\u2019s history. During his more than three decades of experience in the courtroom, Krasner had earned a name for himself as an ardent progressive. He also had a fairly hostile relationship with the city\u2019s police. While historically, district attorney offices and police departments work on the same \u201cteam,\u201d Krasner has sued the police no less than 75 times \u2014\u00a0 a fact which, no doubt, substantially complicates that relationship. But as wild as Krasner\u2019s circumstances may seem, his still unfinished story pales in comparison to what came before it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Krasner was preceded in office by <\/span><b>Rufus Seth Williams<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, whose nearly 10-year tenure ended in a flurry of controversy\u2014and criminal charges. After serving two terms, Williams quickly pulled the plug on his re-election bid in 2017 amid considerable scandal.<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Seth Williams Pleads Guilty In Corruption Case, Resigns As Philly DA\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/39EvH2c4N2s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Williams, a member of the Democratic Party, was the first black D.A. in both the city and state\u2019s history and many predicted that he was headed for even greater things. Unfortunately for his supporters, he\u2019d been harboring his fair share of secrets while in office, which led to a shocking arrest in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Federal officials claimed that Williams had been giving out political favors to local businessmen over a five-year span and in exchange accepted gifts that included pricey, custom furniture, thousands of dollars in personal checks, and luxurious vacations. Local outlet <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Philly Inquirer<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> estimated that the full cash value of the bribes Williams accepted to be $160,500.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In perhaps an even more shocking turn, Williams was also accused of accepting money from his loved ones for his elderly mother\u2019s care and using the funds to contribute to his lavish lifestyle\u2014one where $200 cheese plates weren\u2019t uncommon\u2014instead of paying the nursing home. Finally, he kept all of his misconduct under wraps by fudging his financial records, prosecutors claimed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Williams was hit with a five-year prison sentence in the fall of 2017. The unexpected end of Williams\u2019 career was astonishing for many\u2014including Williams\u2019 predecessor<\/span><b> Lynne Abraham<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who said after his arrest that she\u2019d considered Williams, whom she\u2019d worked with for a decade, to be someone who \u201ccould have been the mayor, maybe even the governor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But where his future ultimately led him was a prison cell for three years (he was released early for good behavior). Today, he\u2019s a free man again and works with local non-profits, but does not practice law.<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Once-Imprisoned Philly DA Seth Williams Now Advocates for Criminal Justice Reform | NBC10\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pGD4MBYvxK0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As headline-making as Williams\u2019 tenure was, his reign was from the only source of controversy in the Philadelphia D.A.&#8217;s history. Preceding Williams was Abraham, a Democrat who had the distinct privilege of being the first woman to hold the title. Still, what was in that sense viewed as progress was complicated by what many considered to be Abraham\u2019s hardline pro-death penalty stance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elected to the position four times, Abraham was the D.A. for nearly 20 years and oversaw more than 100 death sentences during that time, leading a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dpic-cdn.org\/production\/documents\/FairPunishmentProject-Top5Report_FINAL_2016_06.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2016 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by Harvard Law School\u2019s Fair Punishment Project to deem her one of the top five \u201cdeadliest\u201d prosecutors in the country. Twenty years before that, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Times<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> dubbed her the \u201cDeadliest D.A..\u201d She came under fire then for describing an execution as a \u201cnonevent\u201d for her, even remarking, \u201cI don\u2019t feel anything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Harvard study shed light on a troubling culture in the D.A.\u2019s office while Abraham was in power, one where prosecutors took great pride in dealing out death. One assistant D.A, Roger King, had more than 20 death sentences on his record and kept a gallery of photos on his office showing all of the people he\u2019d had put to death; their pictures were marked and the word \u201cdeath\u201d was written on each one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abraham\u2019s dedication to pursuing death sentences, and her unwillingness to overturn them, came under fire numerous times during her career, making her a contentious figure in the city. But she stood by her decisions as recently as 2015, although she did, in that same <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interview<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, state that she would be \u201cfine\u201d with the death penalty being abolished.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22674\" style=\"width: 1924px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22674\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22674\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-2.32.08-PM.png\" alt=\"Lynne Abraham at a press conference, from archival news report, seen in Philly D.A.\" width=\"1914\" height=\"1078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-2.32.08-PM.png 1914w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-2.32.08-PM-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-2.32.08-PM-1200x676.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-2.32.08-PM-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-19-at-2.32.08-PM-1536x865.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1914px) 100vw, 1914px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22674\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lynne Abraham<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before Abraham, the office of the Philadelphia District Attorney was led by Republican <\/span><b>Ronald D. Castille<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Vietnam War veteran who lost his leg due to injuries sustained in the heat of battle. Following his time as a D.A., he, like many others, set his sights on the mayorship but lost the nomination in 1991 to another Republican. His defeat didn\u2019t hold him back for long; he was appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1993, and he went on to become the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania in 2008.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prior to Castille was a familiar name to many a political pundit: <\/span><b>Ed Rendell<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Democrat who later became mayor and then governor of Pennsylvania, and who was involved in his own share of controversy during his time as D.A. Under then-mayor Wilson Goode, Philadelphia Police in 1985 bombed the residential headquarters of a radical Black separatist group, killing 11 people, some of whom were children. Rendell, as the city\u2019s D.A., prosecuted numerous members of the MOVE group, giving some of them sentences that he later admitted were \u201cfar too much,\u201d according to the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Associated Press<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And despite Goode and Rendell\u2019s apologies, the tragedy of that day remains a dark moment in the city\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><div style=\"width: 1930px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/1\/11\/Rendell_and_Baker_Knoll.jpg\" alt=\"Catherine Baker Knoll , Dan Frankel, Tom Murphy (mayor), and Ed Rendell during the 2006 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election.\" width=\"1920\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ed Rendell (at right) during the 2006 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, with Catherine Baker Knoll, Dan Frankel, Tom Murphy (mayor). [Credit: Kyle Cassidy, Creative Commons]<\/p><\/div><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rendell became D.A. in 1978 after winning against <\/span><b>F. Emmett Fitzpatrick<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who was accused of ethics violations and corruption (just as Williams was, decades later) that same year. Before becoming D.A., Fitzpatrick, like Krasner, was a criminal defense attorney, and some of his clients were known for their connections to organized crime\u2014like Frank Sheeran, whose life inspired the Martin Scorcese film <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Irishman <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(and Fitzpatrick appears in the film briefly as a character)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following Fitzpatrick\u2019s death in 2004, his son told <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that Fitzpatrick had actually defended numerous non-famous (not just infamous) people during his time in private practice, and that he would have loved to die in the courtroom defending a \u201cdowntrodden client.\u201d And as for the ethical misconduct claims? \u201cAll politics,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1970s also saw <\/span><b>Arlen Specter<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> hold office for two terms, the culmination of his own strange story: he was initially a Democrat but switched to the Republican party after his own party wouldn\u2019t support his run. It was not a popular decision; his former boss, whom he later ran against and defeated, called him \u201cBenedict Arlen\u201d for his betrayal, but any controversy his unorthodox move may have caused didn\u2019t hinder his political career in the long run. He went on to serve as a senator for the state of Pennsylvania for five terms over three decades. (And, fun fact, he again switched parties and returned to his Democratic roots in 2009.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Republicans had run the D.A.\u2019s office since its inception more than 100 years ago. That didn\u2019t change until 1951, with the election of <\/span><b>Richardson Dilworth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who won the position after failing to be elected mayor and governor in previous years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dilworth had been a practicing lawyer since 1927 and had had experience serving as the city\u2019s treasurer. He spent one term in the Philadelphia D.A.\u2019s office before successfully running for mayor in 1955. But as storied as his career was (he also served in the Marines during World War 2!), his personal life proved to be just as colorful; in 1956, just months into his first term, Dilworth was a passenger aboard the famed SS Andrea Doria, an ocean liner that famously sank after colliding with another boat. 46 people lost their lives and more than one thousand had to be rescued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since Dilworth\u2019s election, 9 out of 11 Philadelphia D.A.s have been Democrats, including <strong>Kelly B. Hodge<\/strong>, the interim D.A. who served for six months before Krasner and who was the first black woman to do so. Of these 11, their political leanings have all run the gamut<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. If Abraham, the former \u201cDeadliest D.A.,\u201d represents one end of the spectrum, on the other end is Krasner, whose policies are unapologetically progressive. He ran on a platform of bringing about change, in many ways, the polar opposite of those who came before him. Whether that will continue to be the case only time will tell, but history has already shown that the D.A.\u2019s office is no stranger to shaking things up.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>Sharon Pruitt-Young<\/strong> is a writer, editor, and unrepentant nerd based in Maryland. She has written for Oxygen Network, MSN, Lifewire, Very Real, NBC Universal, and more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sharon Pruitt-Young It was a world-changing moment for the city of Philadelphia: Larry Krasner, a former criminal defense attorney and a highly polarizing figure in local politics, was elected as the city\u2019s 26th district attorney in November 2017, defeating Republican candidate and former assistant D.A. Beth Grossman for the victory. As seen in Philly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":22672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[937,938],"tags":[],"topic":[1245,1256,1257,1225,1226],"class_list":["post-22441","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behind-the-films","category-interviews","topic-crime","topic-elections","topic-law-administration","topic-politics-and-government","topic-social-justice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Before Krasner: The Wild and Wooly Saga of Philadelphia District Attorneys - Independent Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What path led to reformer Larry Krasner&#039;s election, as seen in PHILLY D.A.? 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