Philadelphia Weekly notes that since Carlos Vega was defeated in the Democratic primary, it is up to Chuck Peruto, the Republican candidate for Philadelphia DA, to defeat incumbent DA Larry Krasner in the general election.
Note: You can click on the above to enlarge.
He now faces Republican Chuck Peruto in the upcoming general election.
I interviewed Chuck Peruto for a two-part series at Philadelphia Weekly.
You can read my two Crime Beat columns on Peruto via the below links:
You can read the column via the pages below (click to enlarge) or the below link:
The Wall Street Journal offers an editorial noting that the Democratic City Committee voted not to endorse Philly DA Larry Krasner for reelection. The editorial also mentions Philadelphia Weekly and quotes challenger Carlos Vega from my Crime Beat column.
Prosecutors promising easier bail and fewer criminal
prosecutions have swept to power in several big cities in recent years, but a
backlash may be underway as crime spikes. Witness last week’s developments in
Philadelphia.
On March 31 the Democratic City Committee voted not to
endorse incumbent District Attorney Larry Krasner for May’s primary election.
He won in 2017 after denouncing the city’s police and prosecutors as “both
systemically racist” and has spent his time in office touting his efforts “to end
mass incarceration” by bringing fewer charges and urging lighter sentences.
But Mr. Krasner now faces a primary challenge from Carlos
Vega, a former homicide prosecutor whom he fired.
In December 2020, Mr. Krasner
filed 525 charges for violent crimes, compared to 757 in December 2017, the
month before he took office. The decrease doesn’t reflect a safer city; nearly
500 people were murdered in Philadelphia last year, compared to 315 in 2017.
Last year saw more than 2,200
shootings, and the vast majority of victims were black. Auto thefts have risen
sharply, with some 9,295 vehicles stolen last year compared to 5,694 in 2017.
“Victims are an inconvenient truth that Larry ignores,” Mr. Vega told Philadelphia Weekly in December. “He never talks about the victims.” Mr. Vega says he’s running “to make our city safer.”
You can read the rest of the piece via the below
link:
You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Carlos Vega via the below link:
Stu Bykofsky offers his take on the Zoom Philadelphia district attorney debate in a post on his website.
District Attorney Larry Krasner likes boogeymen.
Although Frank Rizzo has been dead 30 years, Krasner mentioned him four times during Monday afternoon’s Zoom district attorney debate sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association. He waved the name like an amulet to ward off evil.
Then, on the subject of immigration (which was actually about illegal immigration) Krasner reached into his magic bag for a Donald J. Trump red herring, saying he and Mayor Kenney fashioned a document to withdraw cooperation with ICE. They did that because of Trump’s, you know, horrible and inhumane policies.
Except for this: It was nimrod Mayor Michael Nutter who was browbeaten by Open Border types into ending the agreement with ICE, and this happened under President Barack Obama, the deporter-in-chief, he was sometimes called.
This question asked by moderator Riley Ross was would the candidates maintain Philadelphia’s Sanctuary City status.
Krasner would, of course, because there are few laws he likes to enforce. Sadly, his Democratic challenger, Carlos Vega, agreed, after some double-talk about how illegals are “victimized twice.” No, they are the perps, not the victim.
Republican candidate Chuck Peruto said he wasn’t much interested in prosecuting garden variety illegals, but if they committed a felony, they’d get time — before being deported.
Wow! Enforcement would a relief, because Philly policy is to “protect” all illegals — even those who have committed a felony.
… In opening comments, Krasner said he should be reelected because, “promises made, promises kept.”
Odd that he hates Trump but stole a campaign motto.
Peruto said, yeah, you kept promises, but they made things worse. He also called Krasner a “politician” for dredging up Rizzo, who has nothing to do with anything. Peruto certainly did stand alone.
Vega said the city is “more dangerous” than at any time in the last 30 years and victims need a protector who “looks like them,” and told a politically incorrect truth when he said most homicide victims in Philly were people of color.
Krasner said crime is up
everywhere, even in Republican cities, so he can’t blamed for the crime spike
here.
Vega said his failure to prosecute and to reduce charges helped explain the rising crime rate, and Peruto said Krasner’s policy of not prosecuting shoplifting crimes under $500 promoted “Christmas shopping,” of the illegal kind.
Defense attorney Peruto has been a life-long Democrat who is running to defeat Krasner if he gets past underdog Vega in the primary.
… Does Krasner under-charge on many crimes?
“Absolutely,” said Peruto, while Vega pussyfooted. Peruto talked about everything from gun violence to car break-ins.
Vega recovered by citing 180 gun arrests, with 114 dismissed by the D.A. in a city that supposedly has a gun crisis. That might have been his strongest point.
Krasner’s was his charge that Vega refiled charges against a convict that Krasner’s conviction integrity unit got sprung, and Vega used the testimony of two officers who allegedly coerced confessions.
The biggest surprise from Peruto was his belief that those convicted, having gone through trial and appeals, were rarely not guilty.
He sounds like a D.A. already.
You
can read the rest of the post via the below link:
Ralph Cipriano at BigTrial.net offers a piece on Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner’s homicide prosecutor.
If you're looking for a good measure of how far the District Attorney's Office has fallen under Larry Krasner, look no further than the homicide unit.
On Nov. 17, District Attorney Larry Krasner appointed Assistant District Attorney Chesley Lightsey as interim supervisor of the D.A.'s Homicide and Non-Fatal Shooting Unit, replacing Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci. As Lightsey's top assistant, Krasner appointed Assistant District Attorney Sherrell Dandy.
Once, the homicide unit was the province of legendary prosecutors such as Charles "Joey" Grant, who tried and won hundreds of cases, many of them at high profile murder trials against defendants that included mob boss Nicky Scarfo.
Carlos Vega, who's running against Krasner in the May 18th primary for the Democratic nomination for D.A., prosecuted more than 450 murder cases during a 30-year career in the D.A.'s homicide unit. Vega recalled that before he got promoted to homicide, he prosecuted 40 jury trials over a five-year apprenticeship before his bosses would trust him to try a murder case.
But under Krasner, the homicide unit is now led by Lightsey and Dandy, a couple of lightweights who, according to knowledgeable sources, have tried a total of approximately 18 homicide jury trials between them.
In addition, the two ADAs who head the homicide unit have an embarrassing history of courtroom blunders behind them that are well-known in Philadelphia's tight-knit legal community. Blunders that include mixing up key evidence like the murder weapon at trial, calling the wrong witnesses, and misidentifying robbery and kidnapping suspects. Those gaffes resulted in dangerous defendants walking, defendants who subsequently went on to commit more crimes.
As far as the current homicide unit in the D.A.'s office under Larry Krasner, it's strictly amateur hour. But because Krasner's a cop-hating, prosecutor-hating former criminal defense lawyer, the demise of the homicide unit under Krasner may be happening by design. Like the coach of a tanking sports team, you have to wonder if Krasner wants to deliberately lose every game.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
Krasner's Head Of Homicide Has A History Of Courtroom Blunders | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog
You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on former homicide prosecutor and candidate for DA Carlos Vega via the below link:
Ralph Cipriano at Bigtrial.net offers a piece on the accused murderer of a dog walker, who should have been in prison.
Three weeks before he allegedly murdered a dog walker in Brewerytown, Davis L. Josephus, 20, a twice convicted felon, was in jail after he'd been arrested for an alleged carjacking.
But on Dec. 23, 2020, Josephus's bail for the carjacking case was reduced from $100,000 to $20,000. On Dec. 29, 2020, Josephus only had to post 10%, or $2,000, to get out of jail.
Just 15 days later, on Jan. 13th, 25-year-old Milan Loncar was walking his dog Roo around 7 p.m. at 31st and Jefferson Streets, a block from his home in Brewerytown, when Josephus and another suspect held him up.
Josephus, according to police sources, allegedly stood in front of Loncar; the other suspect stood behind Loncar as they went through the victim's pockets.
Then, Josephus allegedly put a gun to Loncar's chest and pulled the trigger. Loncar, a recent Temple University graduate, was mortally wounded. He sat down on the ground, took out his cell phone and appeared to have tried to summon help. Then he stood up, staggered backward, and collapsed supine on the ground while Roo, his pet dog, a mix breed of dachshund and chihuahua, ran to Loncar's side, and wouldn't leave.
Loncar was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Temple University Hospital.
Josephus should have never been out on the street.
… Carlos Vega, a career homicide prosecutor running for the May 18th Democratic nomination for district attorney, said the blame for Loncar's murder rested squarely on District Attorney Larry Krasner.
"Basically, had Larry followed the law to keep the public safe, this young man would still be alive," Vega said about the victim.
About Josephus, Vega said, "There was no reason legally for him to be on the street with his record and what he had done."
"Judging by his alleged carjacking with a gun, his alleged assault in prison with a weapon, and his two robbery convictions, it was only a matter of time before he [Josephus] killed someone," Vega said.
According to Vega, Josephus should have been in custody because he was in violation of parole for his two robberies, because the carjacking arrested violated his probation.
In response, Krasner and his official spokesperson, Jane Roh, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
You
can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
Ralph Cipriano at BigTrial.net offers a piece on the 2020 homicide rate in Philadelphia.
How many people were murdered in Philadelphia during 2020?
In the last few days, that number appeared to be a moving target. On Friday, New Year's Day, the official tally for last year's murders that was posted on the police department's crime stats website was 498.
This morning at 9 a.m., the 2020 body count on that same website was briefly raised to 502. But just two hours later, it was lowered to 499.
The city's explanation for today's downgrade from 502 murders last year to 499 murders: it was a statistical error made by a web designer, an explanation that left some cops shaking their heads, and muttering about a possible official coverup.
The official 2020 body count of 499, however, still represents a whopping 40% increase over 2019, when there were only 356 murders. The official 2020 body count of 499 murders also left the city just one body short of the all-time record set 30 years ago, in 1990, at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, when the city had a total of 500 murders.
In an email, Corporal Jasmine Reilly of the Philadelphia Police Department's Office of Media Relations/Public Affairs explained today's differing body counts by saying:
"The correct homicide totals for 2020 is 499. When the web developer was updating the website, he did not separate 2020 and 2021. The homicides that occurred at the beginning of the year were inadvertently counted into the 2020 totals. The web developer corrected the issue and the website now reflects the accurate totals."
According to Corporal Reilly, so far in 2021,
the city's had four additional murders.
The city's all-time record for murders set back in 1990 appears to be another moving target. A few years ago, when the Inquirer and Daily News published a "Data Hub" that featured Philadelphia Police Department crime stats from 1988 to 2017, the newspapers cited the official homicide rate for 1990 as 497 murders.
That same body count, 497, was cited by Wikipedia, among other websites. But when the Inquirer ran a story today about the 2020 body count, that 1990 murder rate jumped to 500.
Last year's body count quickly became a political issue.
Carlos Vega, a former career homicide prosecutor who's running for the Democratic nomination for district attorney, said today that the current D.A., Larry Krasner, is responsible for the high murder rate, because "Larry Krasner has legalized drugs in Philadelphia." At the same time he's not prosecuting gun crimes, Vega said.
"There's a direct correlation between not prosecuting gun crimes" and a record number of shootings on the streets of Philadelphia last year, Vega said. He quoted Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw who testified to the City Council that the prosecution of gun crimes under D.A. Larry Krasner's office was down nearly 85%.
"The police are doing their job and Larry Krasner is deciding not to prosecute," Vega said, adding that some drug dealers are arrested multiple times for carrying guns, with few consequences.
You can read the
rest of the piece via the below link:
Philly's Official 2020 Body Count: 499 Murders | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano at Bigtrial.net offers a piece on Carlos Vega, who is running for DA against Larry Krasner.
Carlos
Vega, who's running for the Democratic nomination for D.A., says that Larry
Krasner is conducting a "social experiment" funded by rich elites, an
experiment that's killing black and brown people every day on the bloody
streets of Philadelphia.
In an interview on the latest cop-hosted Search Warrant podcast, Vega talked about billionaire George Soros and the tech giants from California who are bankrolling Krasner's reelection campaign.
"There are millionaires and billionaires that are backing him for this social experiment," said Vega, who spent 35 years as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office, 30 of those years as a homicide prosecutor.
You can read the
rest of the piece via the below link:
You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Carlos Vega via the below link:
Philadelphia Weekly ran my Crime Beat column on former homicide prosecutor Carlos Vega, who is running against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
You can read the column below or via the below link:
Meet Carlos Vega - Philadelphia Weekly
Ralph Cipriano at Bigtrial.net offers a piece on Carlos Vega, a former career homicide prosecutor who is going to run against Philly DA Larry Krasner.
Attention,
long suffering citizens of Philadelphia: We finally have an alternative to our
current district attorney who caters to criminals, and doesn't give a damn
about crime victims.
He's Carlos Vega, 64, a career homicide prosecutor
in the D.A.'s office who, over a 35-year career, has tried nearly 450 homicide
cases, and lost only 14.
Next Wednesday at 11 a.m., Vega will be holding a
press conference outside the D.A.'s office at 3 South Penn Square to announce
his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for district attorney.
Vega will be opposing incumbent D.A. Larry
Krasner, the George Soros-financed radical whose alleged "reforms" of
the criminal justice system have been a disaster for Philadelphia, as witnessed
this year by a record murder rate, and a record number of shootings.
As a career homicide prosecutor, Vega said, he was
in the courtroom every day, acting as the champion for murder victims "who
are never heard, who have no voice."
"I am here to represent the victims,"
Vega said. "I've always been the voice for the victims." Watching the
murder and shooting rates escalate to historic levels, Vega says, he decided as
a career prosecutor, as well as a parent, "I can't sit by and let this
happen to my city."
