WASHINGTON — A Philadelphia federal judge referred the City of Brotherly Love’s George Soros-backed District Attorney Larry Krasner to the Justice Department Tuesday for investigation into whether he violated the law while trying to get a 2009 murder conviction thrown out.
US District Judge Paul Diamond, a George W. Bush appointee, also ordered that both Krasner and Assistant District Attorney Matthew Stiegler be removed from involvement in the case.
In a shocking memo, Diamond wrote he had “reluctantly concluded that Philadelphia’s highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law” after hearing testimony alleging a pressure campaign against employees in the DA’s office who raised conflict of interest concerns revolving around Stiegler.
Staffers who had raised the issue were warned they could face “consequences,” court documents show.
Diamond found that Krasner and Stiegler’s conduct may have amounted to perjury, obstruction of justice, false statements under oath and conspiracy.
Krasner hit back in a statement declaring that “I respectfully and vigorously disagree” with Diamond, adding that “I look forward to appealing to the higher court as soon as the law allows.”
Johnson had been found guilty of second-degree murder in 2009 for the killing of Kenyatta Smith during a botched robbery two years earlier.
He was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2022, Krasner’s office filed a petition for Johnson’s release, arguing that he had received ineffective legal representation during the trial.
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