Philadelphia’s new district attorney fired 31 staffers Friday as part of a promised shakeup of an office tarnished by scandal.
DA Larry Krasner, 56, made the personnel moves on only his fourth day on the job.
Spokesman Ben Waxman said the changes shouldn’t be surprising, given that Krasner, a longtime civil rights lawyer, campaigned on a promise to clean up the DA’s office, which he previously called “off the rails,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“Reorganization and a change in some key personnel are necessary to fulfill that promise,” Waxman said. (FOX NEWS)
[divider][/divider]The sweeping change affected lawyers of all ranks and could represent a 10 percent reduction in the number of prosecutors. Names were not released, but current and former employees — none authorized to publicly discuss the moves — said the group included trial attorneys and some supervisor-level staff, many with decades of experience. As many as a third of the office’s homicide prosecutors were asked to leave, sources said.
The announcement was the first bombshell in what some of his supporters have hoped — and his critics have feared — would be a wave of drastic changes accompanying the installation of the career civil rights lawyer to the city’s top law enforcement job.
During his campaign, Krasner pledged to reduce the number of people behind bars, never use the death penalty, and seek to end use of cash bail — goals that earned praise from fellow Democrats and liberal criminal justice observers, but skepticism or even scorn from other law enforcement officials. After his victory, Krasner reiterated his priorities but downplayed concerns about a possible exodus or mass purging of staff. (PHILLY.COM)
[give_form id=”79809″]