The prosecutors accused the DA of instructing them to “protect the office’ in the appellate case.
Two Philadelphia prosecutors have accused District Attorney Larry Krasner of instructing them to “protect the office” during the litigation of a controversial appellate case.
The prosecutors accused Krasner of telling them to act in a way that was “incompatible with their ethical obligations and the interests of the Commonwealth.”
Assistant District Attorneys Katherine Ernst and Steven J. Wildberger alleged on Monday that Krasner’s instructions came after they had been attempting to persuade him to allow the state attorney general’s office to take over the appeal of Dennis Johnson.
Johnson is seeking to have his murder conviction overturned.
Last week, a former prosecutor who was once assigned to the appeal said she had only recommended that the conviction be overturned at the direction of Krasner. She said she was encouraged to lie about aspects of the case in court to minimize scrutiny on the way the office handled the appeal.
Ernst and Wildberger experienced similar issues. They even tried to persuade Krasner to refer the case to the state attorney general’s office because of the issues that occurred internally over how it was handled.
They said that a supervisor who was initially involved with the appeal and made mistakes in overseeing it was still offering legal advice about it from a different role in the office, which Ernst and Wildberger said was self-interested and “inappropriate.”
In late June, Ernst and Wildberger wrote that they again asked Krasner to refer the case to state prosecutors. “DA Krasner stated that there would be ‘consequences’ for anyone who notified the court of the conflict issues,” they wrote.
The prosecutors still filed a notice in federal court saying that their office should no longer be handling Johson’s appeal.
In an interview on Monday, Krasner said that although he had “a lot to say” about the filing, he was unable to comment because the case remains pending in federal court.
“The DA’s office will be responding to the recent filing in the ethically appropriate way – on the record, because it is generally viewed as inappropriate and possibly unethical to comment during a pending hearing,” Krasner said.
Many of the issues were discussed in a hearing last week, but it was cut short.
U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond has not yet scheduled the next portion of the proceeding against Krasner.
Ernst and Wildberger said that they were prepared to testify before Diamond, and they are expected to take the stand as the case proceeds.
