Regular Session 2021-2022 House Resolution 0240 P.N. 3607

PRINTER'S NO. 3607

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

No.

240

Session of

2022

INTRODUCED BY WHITE, OCTOBER 26, 2022

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, OCTOBER 26, 2022

A RESOLUTION

Impeaching Lawrence Samuel Krasner, District Attorney of

Philadelphia, for misbehavior in office; and providing for

the appointment of trial managers.

WHEREAS, Lawrence Samuel Krasner was elected to the position

of District Attorney of Philadelphia on November 7, 2017, and

re-elected to the position on November 2, 2021, pursuant to

section 4 of Article IX of the Constitution of Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, Upon assuming office, District Attorney Krasner

terminated more than 30 assistant district attorneys (ADA) from

employment with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office; and

WHEREAS, Many of these terminated assistant district

attorneys were senior-level staffers in supervisory roles who

possessed significant prosecutorial experience and knowledge of

criminal procedure; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner replaced this vast

institutional knowledge in the Philadelphia District Attorney's

Office with attorneys who lacked any meaningful experience in

prosecuting criminal cases, some of whom only recently graduated

from law school; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner subsequently withdrew the

office from membership in the Pennsylvania District Attorneys

Association (PDAA) because, he asserted, PDAA supported

regressive and punitive policies; and

WHEREAS, In withdrawing from PDAA, District Attorney Krasner

denied the attorneys in his office the ability to participate in

the various professional development and training programs

provided by PDAA through its educational institute; and

WHEREAS, Rather than offering traditional prosecutorial

training on such subjects as prosecutorial ethics, human

trafficking, witness examination, trial advocacy, trial

management and achieving justice for domestic violence and

sexual assault victims, District Attorney Krasner offered

attorneys seminars, including "A New Vision for Criminal Justice

in Philadelphia," "Deportation: The Unforeseen Consequences of

Prosecution in our Immigrant Community," and "Philadelphia and

Safe Injection: Harm Reduction as Public Policy"; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

eventually returned to more traditional prosecutorial training,

however, the office continued to focus on issues that promote

District Attorney Krasner's progressive philosophies rather than

how to effectively prosecute a criminal case; and

WHEREAS, Upon being elected to office, District Attorney

Krasner established a series of office policies with the

purported purpose to "end mass incarceration and bring balance

back to sentencing," and later adopted a series of policies

related to certain crimes or classes of people; and

WHEREAS, These policies include directives not to charge sex

workers or individuals for certain classes of crimes such as

prostitution or possession of marijuana and marijuana-related

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drug paraphernalia; and

WHEREAS, These new policies identified a series of offenses

for which the gradation may be reduced with the purpose of

"reduc[ing] pre-trial incarceration rates as no bail is required

and the shorter time required for hearings expedites Municipal

Court and Common Pleas dockets," and requiring disposition of

retail theft cases unless the value of the item stolen exceeds

$500 or where the defendant has an extensive history of theft

convictions; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner instituted policies to

make plea offers below the bottom end of the mitigated range

under the Sentencing Guidelines from the Pennsylvania Sentencing

Commission and seek greater use of house arrest, probation and

alternative sentencing when the sentencing guidelines indicate a

range of incarceration below 24 months; and

WHEREAS, In February 2018, District Attorney Krasner

established a policy that his office "will ordinarily no longer

ask for cash bail for . . . misdemeanors and felonies" listed in

the policy, because "The cash bail system is rife with injustice

and exacerbates socio-economic and racial inequalities,

disproportionately penalizing the poor and people of color"; and

WHEREAS, In November 2018, District Attorney Krasner adopted

a policy in which a criminal defendant's immigration status

should be considered in the plea-bargaining process, effectively

providing that where an immigration consequence is detected pre-

trial or with respect to a sentencing recommendation, counsel

will advise if an offer can be made to avoid the consequence;

and

WHEREAS, Other policies that District Attorney Krasner

directed were as follows:

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(1) Assistant district attorneys may not proceed in

cases against defendants driving under the influence of

cannabis when the defendants blood "contains inactive

metabolite (11-Nor-9-Carboxy-Delta-9-THC) or 4 or fewer

ng/mls of psycho-active THC" and that "if the defense

presents evidence that calls impairment into question, an ADA

may consider dropping the charges against the defendant."

(2) The District Attorney's Office "will only oppose

motions for redactions or expungements in limited

circumstances" and sets forth various scenarios in which the

Office will agree to, seek or not oppose the expungement of a

defendant's criminal history.

(3) The District Attorney's Office directed plea offers

and sentencing recommendations:

(i) for felonies, "aimed at an office-wide average

period of total supervision among cases of around 18

months or less of total supervision, with a ceiling of 3

years of total supervision or less on each case";

(ii) for misdemeanors, aimed at an office-wide

average of "6 months or less of total supervision, with a

ceiling of 1 year";

(iii) for all matters, for "concurrent sentences";

and

(iv) for cases involving incarceration, "for a

period of parole that is no longer than the period of

incarceration";

and

WHEREAS, Nearly all of District Attorney Krasner's policies

"create a presumption" for ADAs to follow and require approval

from Krasner himself or a first assistant district attorney for

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deviations from the policies; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner, in an April 2021 report

published by the DAO titled "Ending Mass Supervision: Evaluating

Reforms," wrote in his opening letter: "I am proud of the work

this office has done to make Philadelphians, particularly

Philadelphians of Color, freer from unnecessary government

intrusion, while keeping our communities safe"; and

WHEREAS, In reality, the policies and practices of the

Philadelphia District Attorney's Office instituted under the

direction of District Attorney Krasner have led to catastrophic

consequences for the people of the City of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, According to the City Controller, spikes in gun

violence and homicides have dramatically impacted historically

disadvantaged neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods are

"primarily low-income with predominately black or African

American residents"; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) reports

that the number of homicide victims has increased every year

since 2016, more than doubling from 2016 to 2021, with a year-

over-year increase of 40% between 2019 and 2020; and

WHEREAS, As of October 16, 2022, there have already been 430

homicides in the City of Philadelphia in 2022; and

WHEREAS, As of October 17, 2022, reported trends gathered

from the PPD's "incident" data, which tracks the reporting of

all crimes in addition to homicides, shows a 12% increase in all

reported offenses, a 6% increase in violent offenses and a 21%

increase in property offenses; and

WHEREAS, While incidents of violent crime are increasing,

prosecution of crime by the Philadelphia District Attorney's

Office has decreased during this same period; and

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WHEREAS, In 2016, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

reported that only 30% of "all offenses" resulted in a dismissal

or withdrawal, but that number spiked to 50% in 2019, 54% in

2020, 67% in 2021 and 65% to date in 2022; and

WHEREAS, A similar trend is evident when filtering the data

for violent crimes, where, in 2016, the withdrawal and dismissed

violent crime cases accounted for 48% of all violent crime case

outcomes, but that percentage increased to 60% in 2019, to 68%

in 2020, to 70% in 2021 and to 66% in 2022 to date; and

WHEREAS, Data from the Pennsylvania Sentencing Commission

relating to violations of the Uniform Firearms Act (VUFA)

evidences a similar jarring trend; and

WHEREAS, The Sentencing Commission reports that guilty

dispositions in the City of Philadelphia declined from 88% in

2015 to 66% in 2020, compared to a decline from 84% to 72% in

counties of the second class, with the driver of the decrease

being nolle pros dispositions; and

WHEREAS, As compared to the Statewide data and other county

classes, the percent of guilty verdicts has decreased

significantly, while the percent of nolle prossed cases has

increased in the City of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, Studies by the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center

(DVIC) attempted to provide "an explanation for the increase in

homicides and shootings in an effort to begin a conversation to

address the challenge at a strategic level," significantly, the

report notes:

"The rate of prosecution dismissal and withdrawal has been

increase [sic] substantially since 2015 under DA [Seth]

Williams, and has continued to increase after DA Krasner took

office. Furthermore, a closer examination of these dropped cases

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indicates that more cases are dismissed/withdrawn at the

preliminary hearing state [sic] under DA Krasner than the actual

trial state []. This implies that, even when criminals are

caught with a gun, they are swiftly finding out they may not

receive as significant a consequence as they had historically.

Notably, the likelihood of being arrested is low to begin with.

This means that, criminals know that their likelihood of getting

caught with a gun is slim and, even if they get caught, they

feel that they can leave without severe (or any) consequences.";

and

WHEREAS, The DVIC conducted a "cursory examination" of

dismissed/withdrawn cases in 2018/2019 and "found 6 offenders

whose cases were dismissed (VUFA former convict charge) and got

later involved in shootings . . . 2 of these shootings were

fatal and 4 out of these 6 offenders were gang members"; and

WHEREAS, The DVIC studied the prosecution declination for

narcotics, retail theft and prostitution arrests from 2016 to

2018, and concluded in its key findings that the percentage of

all declinations, not just narcotics, prostitution and retail

theft, increased "especially in 2018" to more than 7%, when it

had been just 2% or less between 2007 and 2015; and

WHEREAS, In September 2020, the Philadelphia City Council

authorized the Committee on Public Safety and the Special

Committee on Gun Violence Prevention to study gun violence in

the city. This study involved a collaboration between the

Controller's Office, Defender Association, Department of Public

Health, District Attorney's Office, First Judicial District,

Managing Director's Office, Pennsylvania Attorney General and

PPD. The published results, called the "100 Shooting Review

Committee Report," discusses trends and general findings

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regarding shootings in the City of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, The published results showed the following:

(1) The clearance rate (i.e., when an arrest was made or

a suspect that could not be arrested was identified) for

fatal shootings in 2020 was 37% and the rate for nonfatal

shootings was 18%.

(2) There has been a "marked increase" in the number of

people arrested for illegal gun possession without the

accusation of an additional offense, including a doubling in

arrests for illegal possession of a firearm without a license

since 2018.

(3) The initial and final bail amounts set by courts in

illegal possession of firearms cases declined between 2015

and 2019 and increased in 2020 and 2021.

(4) Conviction rates in shooting cases declined between

2016 and 2020 from 96% to 80% in fatal shootings and from 69%

to 64% in nonfatal shootings.

(5) There is a long-term trend of a reduction in

conviction rates for illegal gun possession cases, dropping

from 65% in 2015 to 45% in 2020;

and

WHEREAS, In August 2022, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner

indicated that her department is short-staffed by approximately

20%, or 1,300 officers, due to low morale, politics, increased

scrutiny and "uniquely stringent hiring requirements" during a

nationwide shortage; and

WHEREAS, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated, "The truth is

the homicides are not happening in a vacuum - there are those

who are determined to attack and kill their victims. While we

are making constant adjustments to mitigate this sickening

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reality, our officers, simply put, just can't keep up by being

everywhere at all times."; and

WHEREAS, While the PPD may arrest a suspect for the

commission of a crime, the Philadelphia District Attorney's

Office is one of the few district attorney's offices in this

Commonwealth that reserves unto itself the authority to charge a

person for a criminal act; and

WHEREAS, In October 2022, following yet another act of

violence against police in the City of Philadelphia, Police

Commissioner Danielle Outlaw issued the following statement:

"We are tired of arresting the same suspects over and over

again, only to see them right back out on the street to continue

and sometimes escalate their criminal ways. We are tired of

having to send our officers into harm's way to serve warrants on

suspects who have no business being on the street in the first

place.

No - not everyone needs to be in jail. But when we repeatedly

see the extensive criminal histories of those we arrest for

violent crime, the question needs to be asked as to why they

were yet again back on the street and terrorizing our

communities.

I am beyond disgusted by this violence. Our entire department

is sickened by what is happening to the people that live, work,

and visit our city. Residents are tired of it. Business owners

are tired of it. Our children are tired of it.

We are long past 'enough is enough'.";

and

WHEREAS, Acts of violence, and particularly violent crimes

committed with firearms, have exacted a heavy toll on victims

and their families, with countless lives unnecessarily lost or

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irretrievably broken, due to the increase of violent crime in

the City of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, In his special concurrence in Commonwealth v.

Pownall, Justice Dougherty highlighted what he feared to be an

effort by the District Attorney's Office to deprive certain

defendants of a fair and speedy trial; and

WHEREAS, Following the June 2017 incident in which former

Philadelphia police officer Ryan Pownall shot and killed David

Jones, the District Attorney's Office submitted the matter to an

investigative grand jury; and

WHEREAS, The investigating grand jury issued a presentment

recommending that Pownall be charged with criminal homicide,

possession of an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering

another person; and

WHEREAS, During trial, the prosecutor filed a motion in

limine to preclude the standard peace officer justification

defense instruction, based on the assertion that the

instruction, which largely tracked language of statute, violated

Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and

seizure; and

WHEREAS, The motion was denied and the prosecution appealed

to the Superior Court, which quashed the appeal as unauthorized.

The Supreme Court granted the prosecutor's request for allowance

of appeal; and

WHEREAS, The Supreme Court ultimately denied the appeal, but

the special concurrence filed by Justice Dougherty illuminated

startling behavior by the District Attorney's Office; and

WHEREAS, Justice Dougherty held that the District Attorney's

Office's actions during grand jury process "implicate[] a

potential abuse" and stated that "the presentment in this case

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is perhaps best characterized as a 'foul blow.'" He referred to

the grand jury presentment, authored by the District Attorney's

Office, as a "gratuitous narrative"; and

WHEREAS, Justice Dougherty also recognized that any abuse of

the grand jury could have been remedied by "Statutory safeguards

embedded in the process," such as a preliminary hearing. He went

on to say "What is troubling is the DAO's effort to ensure that

would not occur," i.e., their filing of a motion to bypass the

preliminary hearing; and

WHEREAS, Justice Dougherty found it "inexplicable" that, in

presenting a bypass motion to the Court of Common Pleas, the

District Attorney's Office failed to highlight the Investigating

Grand Jury Act Section 4551(e), which directs that a defendant

"shall" be entitled to a preliminary hearing. He emphasized that

the District Attorney's Office "appear[ed] to have known [about

that requirement] at the time it filed its motion."; and

WHEREAS, As it related to the prosecutor's motion in limine

and interlocutory appeal, Justice Dougherty observed that the

District Attorney's Office's motion "presented only half the

relevant picture." He went on to say that "this type of advocacy

would be worrisome coming from any litigant," but coming from a

prosecutor, "is even more concerning, particularly in light of

the motion's timing . . .". He cited directly to Pennsylvania

Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3 regarding candor to the

tribunal; and

WHEREAS, Further referencing ethical concerns, Justice

Dougherty found that the timing of the motion in limine, "[w]hen

combined with the other tactics highlighted throughout this

concurrence," could lead to the conclusion that the decision to

take "an unauthorized interlocutory appeal was intended to

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deprive [Mr. Pownall] of a fair and speedy trial."; and

WHEREAS, Justice Dougherty went on to say:

Now, for the first time before this Court, the DAO finally

admits its true intent in all this was simply to use Pownall's

case as a vehicle to force judicial determination on 'whether

Section 508(a)(1) is facially unconstitutional.' DAO's Reply

Brief at 1; see id. at 6 (asserting Section 508's applicability

to [Pownall] is not the subject of this appeal"). What's more,

despite having assured the trial court it was not trying 'to bar

[Pownall] from a defense[.]' N.T. 11/25/2019 at 8, the DAO now

boldly asserts it would be appropriate for this Court to rewrite

the law and retroactively apply it to Pownall's case because he

supposedly 'had fair notice of his inability to rely on this

unconstitutional defense[.]' DAO's Brief at 10.;

and

WHEREAS, Justice Dougherty concluded, "Little that has

happened in this case up to this point reflects procedural

justice. On the contrary, the DAO's prosecution of Pownall

appears to be "driven by a win-at-all-cost office culture" that

treats police officers differently than other criminal

defendants. DAO CONVICTION INTEGRITY UNIT REPORT, OVERTURNING

CONVICTIONS - AND AN ERA 2 (June 15, 2021) available at

tinyurl.com/CIU report (last visited July 19, 2022). This is the

antithesis of what the law expects of a prosecutor."; and

WHEREAS, On remand, Common Pleas Court Judge McDermott said

that there were "so many things wrong" with the District

Attorney's Office's instructions to the investigating grand jury

that it warranted dismissing all charges against Mr. Pownall;

and

WHEREAS, After hearing testimony from the assistant district

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attorneys who handled the grand jury and preparation of the

presentment, Judge McDermott concluded that the District

Attorney's Office failed to provide the legal instructions to

the grand jurors on the definitions for homicide and information

regarding the use-of-force defense; and

WHEREAS, In her October 17, 2022, Statement of Findings of

Fact and Conclusions of Law, Judge McDermott stated, "The

Commonwealth made an intentional, deliberate choice not to

inform the grand jurors about the justification defense under

Section 508. While [the ADA] was aware of Section 508 and its

applicability to the Defendant's case at the time of the Grand

Jury proceedings, she decided not to advise the Grand Jury about

Section 508 after consulting with other, more senior Assistant

District Attorneys."; and

WHEREAS, As it related to Pownall's right to a preliminary

hearing, Judge McDermott wrote:

In its Motion to bypass the preliminary hearing, the

Commonwealth demonstrated a lack of candor to the Court by

misstating the law and providing Judge Coleman with incorrect

case law.

* * *

The Commonwealth was also disingenuous with the Court

when it asserted that it had good cause to bypass the

preliminary hearing under Pa.R.Crim.P. 565(a) because of the

complexity of the case, the large number of witnesses the

Commonwealth would have to call, the expense, and the delay

caused by a preliminary hearing. As a preliminary hearing was

not held in this case, the Defendant's due process rights

were violated and the Defendant suffered prejudice.;

and

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WHEREAS, Judge McDermott told the District Attorney's Office

that if defense counsel had made the decisions that the District

Attorney's Office made, she would "declare them incompetent.";

and

WHEREAS, The District Attorney's Office's own expert report

from Gregory A. Warren, Ed.D., of American Law Enforcement

Training and Consulting concluded that, given all the facts

presented to him, Officer Pownall's "use of deadly force in this

case was justified."; and

WHEREAS, This expert report was withheld from Pownall by the

District Attorney's Office; and

WHEREAS, In the Federal habeas corpus proceeding in Robert

Wharton v. Donald T. Vaughn, Federal District Court Judge

Goldberg issued a memorandum order admonishing and sanctioning

the District Attorney's Office; and

WHEREAS, Robert Wharton was convicted of murdering the

parents of survivor Lisa Hart-Newman, who was seven months old

at the time and was left to freeze to death with her deceased

parents by Mr. Wharton; and

WHEREAS, After his conviction, Wharton pursued a death

penalty habeas petition in the Federal district court; and

WHEREAS, The District Attorney's Office under prior

administrations had opposed this petition; and

WHEREAS, In 2019, District Attorney Krasner's administration

filed a "Notice of Concession of Penalty Phase Relief," stating

that it would not seek a new death sentence, and, based on that

sentencing relief, the litigation and appeals could end; and

WHEREAS, The concession noted only that the decision to

concede was made "[f]ollowing review of this case by the Capital

Case Review Committee of the Philadelphia [District Attorney's

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Office], communication with the victims' family, and notice to

[Wharton's] counsel."; and

WHEREAS, Judge Goldberg undertook an independent analysis of

the merits of the claim and invited the Pennsylvania Office

Attorney General (OAG) to file an amicus brief in the case; and

WHEREAS, In its amicus, the OAG submitted additional facts

that the District Attorney's Office had not disclosed, including

evidence of prison misconducts, attempted escapes and Department

of Corrections concerns regarding "assaultiveness" and "escape"

by Mr. Wharton; and

WHEREAS, The OAG concluded that "given the facts of this

investigation and aggravating sentencing factors present in this

case, Wharton could not establish a reasonable probability that

the outcome of his penalty phase death sentence would have been

different if the jury had heard evidence of his alleged

'positive' prison adjustment."; and

WHEREAS, The OAG further determined that members of the

family, including victim Ms. Hart-Newman, were not contacted and

that they opposed the concession by the District Attorney's

Office; and

WHEREAS, After an evidentiary hearing, Judge Goldberg held as

follows:

(1) The District Attorney's Office failed to advise the

court of significant anti-mitigation evidence, including that

Mr. Wharton had made an escape attempt at a court appearance.

(2) Two of the office's supervisors violated Federal

Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)(3) "based upon that Office's

representations to this Court that lacked evidentiary support

and were not in any way formed after 'an inquiry reasonable

under the circumstances.'"

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(3) Representations of communication with the victims'

family were "misleading," "false," and "yet another

representation to the Court made after an inquiry that was

not reasonable under the circumstances."

(4) The Law Division Supervisor, Assistant Supervisor

and District Attorney's Office violated Rule 11(b)(1), and

concluding that the violation was "sufficiently 'egregious'

and 'exceptional' under the circumstances to warrant

sanctions,";

and

WHEREAS, Judge Goldberg imposed nonmonetary sanctions on the

District Attorney's Office, requiring that separate written

apologies be sent to the victim, Lisa Hart-Newman, and the

victim's family members; and

WHEREAS, Given the testimony of the two Law Division

supervisors that District Attorney Krasner approved and

implemented internal procedures that created the need for this

sanction, and that the District Attorney had the sole, ultimate

authority to direct that the misleading Notice of Concession be

filed, therefore "the apologies shall come from the District

Attorney, Lawrence Krasner, personally."; and

WHEREAS, House Resolution 216 of 2022 established the House

Select Committee to Restore Law and Order pursuant to Rule 51 of

the General Operating Rules of the House; and

WHEREAS, The select committee is authorized and empowered "to

investigate, review and make finding and recommendations

concerning risking rates of crime, law enforcement and the

enforcement of crime victim rights," in the City of

Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, House Resolution 216 further charges the select

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committee to make findings and recommendations, including, but

not limited to, the following:

(1) Determinations regarding the performance of public

officials empowered to enforce the law in the City of

Philadelphia, including the district attorney, and

recommendations for removal from office or other appropriate

discipline, including impeachment.

(2) Legislation or other legislative action relating to

policing, prosecution, sentencing and any other aspect of law

enforcement.

(3) Legislation or other legislative action relating to

ensuring the protection, enforcement and delivery of

appropriate services and compensation to crime victims.

(4) Legislation or other legislative action relating to

ensuring the appropriate expenditure of public funds intended

for the purpose of law enforcement, prosecutions or to

benefit crime victims.

(5) Other legislative action as the select committee

finds necessary to ensure appropriate enforcement of law and

order in the City of Philadelphia;

and

WHEREAS, In pursuit of these obligations, the resolution

empowers the select committee chair to, among other things,

"send for individuals and papers and subpoena witnesses,

documents, including electronically stored information, and any

other materials under the hand and seal of the chair."; and

WHEREAS, The chair issued subpoenas to a number of

Philadelphia municipal offices, including the Controller, the

Mayor, the Police Department, the Sheriff's Office, the

Treasurer and the District Attorney's Office; and

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WHEREAS, The subpoenas sought nonprivileged records necessary

to fulfill the select committee's obligations to the House of

Representatives pursuant to House Resolution 216; and

WHEREAS, While other municipal offices worked cooperatively

with the select committee to respond to the subpoenas issued to

them, District Attorney Krasner and his office chose instead to

obstruct the select committee's work at every turn; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner and his office asserted

that the select committee was illegitimate and that its

subpoenas served "no valid legislative purpose, violating the

separation of powers, invading legal privileges, and seeking to

deny the constitutional rights of Philadelphia's citizens,

especially their democratic right to vote and choose their local

leaders"; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner asserted various claims

that held no basis in fact or law, including the following:

(1) District Attorneys are not subject to impeachment.

(2) Impeaching the District Attorney violates the

constitutional rights of the people who voted for him.

(3) The District Attorney committed no wrong, and

therefore was not required to comply with the committee

chair's subpoena.

(4) Impeachment of a public official requires a

conviction for a criminal act;

and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner and his Office refused to

search for or produce any documents in response to the subpoena;

and

WHEREAS, Despite multiple attempts by counsel to the select

committee chair to bring District Attorney Krasner and his

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office into compliance with the subpoenas, explaining on

multiple occasions that the select committee was seeking

nonprivileged records and, as it related to any record for which

the District Attorney believed were privileged, the District

Attorney should follow common practice in responding to a

subpoena by providing a privilege log to identify those records

for which the District Attorney asserts a privilege; and

WHEREAS, On September 12, 2022, after multiple exchanges

between counsel and a Request to Show Cause why the District

Attorney should not be held in contempt by the House, the select

committee issued an interim report pursuant to Rule 51 of the

General Operating Rules of the House of Representatives,

notifying the House of District Attorney Krasner's refusal to

comply with the subpoena and recommending that the House

consider contempt proceedings; and

WHEREAS, The House of Representatives adopted House

Resolution 227 on September 13, 2022, resolving that the House

hold District Attorney Krasner in contempt; and

WHEREAS, House Resolution 227 was adopted by a bipartisan

vote of 162 to 38; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner filed an action in

Commonwealth Court on September 2, 2022, in which he raised the

same arguments that fail to have any meaningful basis in law or

fact; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner and his office have since

feigned partial compliance with the subpoena, providing several

public-facing records obtained without the need to engage in any

legitimate effort to search for the records; and

WHEREAS, The select committee chair invited District Attorney

Krasner to testify before the select committee in executive

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session on October 21, 2022; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner refused to testify in

executive session, demanding a public hearing instead; and

WHEREAS, District Attorney Krasner then published a press

release which was misleading at best, mischaracterizing the

invitation to Krasner to testify in yet another moment of

grandstanding; and

WHEREAS, Given the District Attorney's rejection of the

invitation to testify in executive session, the select committee

was compelled to cancel the hearing; and

WHEREAS, Throughout the select committee's efforts to satisfy

its charge under House Resolution 216, District Attorney Krasner

steadfastly insisted that the select committee somehow had the

power to impeach him; and

WHEREAS, Only the House of Representatives, as a body, has

the power of impeachment; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Lawrence Samuel Krasner, District Attorney of

Philadelphia, be impeached for misbehavior in office and that

the following Articles of Impeachment be exhibited to the

Senate:

ARTICLE I

In its 1994 opinion in Larsen v. Senate of Pennsylvania, the

Commonwealth Court spoke to the meaning of the current language

"any misbehavior in office."

Justice Larsen argued that the applicable standard of

"misbehavior in office" was nothing more than a codification of

the common law offense of misconduct in office, meaning "the

breach of a positive statutory duty or the performance by a

public official of a discretionary act with an improper or

corrupt motive."

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In its opinion, the Commonwealth Court held that even if the

strict definition espoused by Larsen were the appropriate rule,

Larsen's conduct still met that heavy burden. More importantly,

however, the court said that this "strict definition . . . finds

no support in judicial precedents." In other words, there is no

precedent that the current language is so constrained. The use

of the word "any" necessarily implied a broad construction.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office's stated mission

is to provide a voice for victims of crime and protect the

community through zealous, ethical and effective investigations

and prosecutions. District Attorney Krasner, by and through his

failed policies and procedures, and throughout the discharge of

his duties as Philadelphia's chief law enforcement officer, has

been derelict in his obligations to the victims of crime, the

people of the City of Philadelphia and of this Commonwealth.

Under District Attorney Krasner's administration, and as

detailed herein, his lack of proper leadership serves as a

direct and proximate cause of the crisis currently facing the

City of Philadelphia. These policies have eviscerated the

District Attorney's Office's ability to adequately enforce the

laws of this Commonwealth; endangered the health, welfare and

safety of more than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians that reside in

Philadelphia and the tens of millions of Americans who visit the

City every year; and, have brought the Office of District

Attorney into disrepute.

WHEREFORE, District Attorney Lawrence Samuel Krasner is

guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office

and disqualification to hold any office of trust or profit under

this Commonwealth.

ARTICLE II

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District Attorney Krasner has, at every turn, obstructed the

efforts of the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and

Order. He has consistently raised specious claims without a good

faith basis in law or fact. Even after the House of

Representatives resolved to hold him in contempt, District

Attorney Krasner's efforts to comply with subpoenas issued by

the select committee chair fall far short of what could be

described as a reasonable good faith effort.

WHEREFORE, District Attorney Lawrence Samuel Krasner is

guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office

and disqualification to hold any office of trust or profit under

this Commonwealth.

The House of Representatives hereby reserves to itself the

right and ability to exhibit at any time after adoption of this

resolution further or more detailed Articles of Impeachment

against District Attorney Lawrence Samuel Krasner, to reply to

any answers that District Attorney Lawrence Samuel Krasner may

make to any Articles of Impeachment which are exhibited and to

offer proof at trial in the Senate in support of each and every

Article of Impeachment which shall be exhibited by them.

Upon the articles of impeachment against Lawrence Samuel

Krasner, Philadelphia District Attorney, being signed by the

Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Speaker shall

appoint a committee of three members, two from the majority

party and one from the minority party to exhibit the same to the

Senate, and on behalf of the House of Representatives to manage

the trial thereof.

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