The Inquirer investigates corruption in Krasner's DAO, and gets hung up on $100

In case you missed it, the journalists at The Philadelphia Inquirer who usually serve as Larry Krasner’s PR agency are really getting tough on our “reform” D.A.

Maybe at the Inquirer, they’re finally realized that after all the years they’ve been falsely portraying Krasner as the shining white knight of progressive prosecution, it’s discouraging to find out how he really achieved all of those alleged “reforms,” by lying and cheating.

The state Supreme Court got things going last month by dropping a 109-page majority opinion that exposed Krasner’s corrupt enterprise of running a freedom train for 110 convicted killers.

By granting those convicted killers 110 “highly problematic prosecutorial concessions” that were tainted by Krasner’s “prosecutors” routinely going into court and lying to and deceiving judges.

While submitting false evidence and hiding real evidence.

While running sham investigations and dodging required evidentiary hearings.

The routine practice of Krasner’s “prosecutors” lying to judges has also run into some serious pushback.

[I’ve put “prosecutors” in quotes because all of Krasner’s current problems involve his lawyers bending the rules to do favors for convicted killers.]

Some 20 federal judges have disbarred from practicing law in federal court former ADA Paul George, one of Krasner’s top supervisors, for repeatedly lying to them in the D.A.’s crusade to get Robert Wharton, another convicted killer off Death Row.

In the Wharton case, those same federal judges suspended the license to practice law in federal court of another top Krasner supervisor, ADA Nancy Winkelman, for three years, once again, for repeatedly lying to judges.

Meanwhile, in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Paul Diamond, three of Krasner’s ADAs have flipped on the boss. In doing so, they revealed that Krasner is presently directing a cover up to hide collusion in his office.

According to three ADAs, Krasner doesn’t want Judge Diamond to know how, in the case of convicted killer Dennis Johnson, one of his top aides, ADA Matthew Stiegler, colluded with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and Johnson’s federal defenders in drawing up a response brief that sought a new trial for Johnson.

Apparently, the “prosecutors” in Krasner’s DAO have been passing off the work of defense lawyers and social justice advocate as their own, without bothering to do any independent investigation to see whether any of the defense claims are true or not.

So what does the Inquirer do in the midst of all this corruption being exposed in Krasner’s DAO?

They run a ridiculous story by Ellie Rushing about how Krasner’s crack “prosecutors” are making a show of demonstrating how ethical they can be.

By investigating a five-year-old $100 donation made by a Krasner aide, G. Lamar Stewart, to yet another convicted killer doing life who’s seeking a new trial.

Stewart, a Baptist minister and ex-cop, is Krasner’s chief of external engagement and government affairs. Despite the fancy title, Stewart functions as awkward white-guy Krasner’s liaison to the black clergy and black political leaders.

Five years ago, Stewart contributed $100 to a mentorship program that the convicted killer’s been running behind bars.

Big freaking deal.

Of all the scandals going on in Krasner’s D.A.’s office, Ellie, this doesn’t crack the top 100.

But here’s how Rushing and the Inquirer reported on Franklingate:

During a brief hearing in Sutton’s case on Monday, Assistant District Attorney David Napiorski, supervisor of the office’s law division, told Common Pleas Court Judge Giovanni O. Campbell that his attorneys needed additional time to investigate Sutton’s case after they found that someone in the office had put “money on the defendant’s books in prison.”

“That needs to be investigated by the office thoroughly before we can take any further action,” Napiorski told the judge.

Boy this ADA Napiorski sounds like he’s a real Eliot Ness, right? Such a stickler for high ethical standards in prosecution!

I hate to spoil the party.

But this is the same ADA Napiorski, who, on May 29th, according to former ADA Jaclyn Mason’s whistleblower testimony in Judge Diamond’s court, tried to talk Mason into joining a cover up to “protect the office.”

The same ADA Napiorski, who after Mason refused to join the cover up and resigned instead, signed his name to a motion that falsely accused Mason of writing a faulty response brief that sought a new trial for a convicted killer named Dennis Johnson.

A faulty response brief that Napiorski had to know was written by ADA Matt Stiegler.

He’s the corrupt supervisor of Krasner’s so-called Conviction Integrity Unit. According to a motion filed in federal court by ADAs Katherine Ernst and Steven Wildberger, Stiegler is the guy who advised Krasner to cover up collusion in the D.A.’s office.

ADA Stiegler also had an office policy of writing briefs on behalf of convicted killers seeking relief on appeal.

But Stiegler didn’t sign those briefs. Instead, he ordered his underlings sign those briefs and file them in court.

So if anything went wrong, the underling took the heat.

How would ADA Napiorski know that Stiegler had an office policy of writing briefs, but having underlings sign those briefs?

Because ADA Napiorski signed briefs that were in all probability written by ADA Stiegler!

Such as in the case of twice-convicted killer Lavar Brown.

In an April 21st hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Pappert, ADA Napiorski tried to explain his way around the usual way prosecutors are supposed to practice law.

Such as when an ADA signs a brief, he’s supposed to have personally verified every fact in that brief as true.

But that’s not exactly what transpired in the Lavar Brown case.

In the Lavar Brown case, Napiorski signed a joint stipulation that would have given the two-time convicted killer a new trial. But it sure sounds like before he signed that joint stipulation, Napiorski didn’t do much fact-checking.

In Judge Pappert’s courtroom, this is how Napiorski explained his participation in writing the joint stipulation that would have given two-time killer Brown a new trial:

“I was asked to assist at the end of the process, and help basically check citations and check for typos,” Napiorski told the judge.

Judge Pappert pointedly asked ADA Napiorski if he was compelled to sign that joint stipulation.

“I honestly don’t remember” was Napiorski’s dishonest reply.

Another brief that ADA Napiorski signed was to grant a new trial to Daniel Gwynn, a convicted killer “exonerated” by Krasner in 2024.

The only problem was that for more than 14 years, Gwynn was previously represented by Matt Stiegler, both as a private lawyer and a federal public defender.

When Stiegler joined Krasner’s DAO in 2021 as supervisor of the Federal Litigation Unit, he apparently brought the Gwynn case file along with him.

And while Stiegler ran the unit that determined whether convicted killers like Gwynn got relief, Krasner’s Federal Litigation Unit did a 180 on Gwynn.

After arguing against granting any relief to Gwynn for more than ten years, the D.A.’s Federal Litigation Unit mysteriously flipped at the exact same time when ADA Stiegler took over that unit as supervisor.

And under Stiegler’s command, ADA Napiorski promptly parroted all the unsuccessful arguments Stiegler had made 15 years ago on Gwynn’s behalf as a private practitioner.

Only this time it worked, and Gwynn got out of prison. And Stiegler would have us believe he had nothing to do with the flip-flop in the D.A.’s office that sprung Gwynn.

While he was the supervisor of the Federal Litigation Unit.

Can you say conflict of interest?

Yo Ellie, I want to be constructive. So if you’re hung up numbers while looking for corruption in Larry Krasner’s DAO, instead of a measly $100, why don’t you try these numbers on for size:

— $84.5 million. That’s the total amount that taxpayers have shelled out while Krasner’s been D.A. to 21 convicted killers and one convicted rapist who contended in the courts that they were wrongfully incarcerated. [After the vast majority of them were “exonerated” by Krasner].

— $137,334.90. That’s the amount of back taxes owed by Larry Krasner and his real estate partners that were paid off last year when Krasner and associates sold the former Princeton Club at 1221 Locust Street for $3.5 million. But Krasner, and city officials all the way up to the mayor’s office, refuse to say who paid off those back taxes.

The enduring mystery of who paid off the deadbeat D.A.’s back taxes is the subject of a Right-to-Know appeal that I filed in Common Pleas Court. I’ll let you know what happens with that appeal.

But honestly, when it comes to covering Larry Krasner, the Inquirer is just plain dumb.

When two of Krasner’s supervisors flipped on him in federal court, they filed the motion alerting Judge Diamond that in the Dennis Johnson case, Krasner had instituted a cover up.

And, according to that motion, the D.A. was threatening his employees with “consequences’ if they ratted him out to the judge. But two supervisors, ADAs Ernst and Wildberger, went ahead and did it anyway.

Two supervisors who were personally hired and promoted by Krasner.

How bad can things be in Krasner’s DAO? Can you say mutiny?

So here’s what Chris Palmer wrote in the Inquirer to summarize the fallout of the latest scandal in Krasner’s DAO:

That [Dennis Johnson] case — which the district attorney’s office has been handling — has become a flash point in an ongoing debate about whether Krasner’s office has behaved improperly in its efforts to overturn flawed convictions.

Yo Chris! It ain’t much of a debate any more.

Ask the majority of justices on the state Supreme Court who wrote that opinion castigating Krasner. Or ask the 20 federal judges who disbarred and suspended two of Krasner’s top supervisors for repeatedly lying to judges.

They all agree that on the way to reforming the criminal justice system, Krasner has routinely been breaking the law! Did you miss that?

And after all the evidence that’s come out about all the corruption in Krasner’s office, did you ever think that maybe it wasn’t those so-called “flawed convictions” that were flawed?

But maybe what was flawed was the routine methods Krasner used to allegedly reform the system — by lying and cheating?

For God’s sake, Chris, wake the hell up!

In the same story, Krasner told Palmer he had “a lot to say” about the Johnson case but he can’t say it right now because the case is pending before Judge Diamond.

Cheer up, Chris. Krasner may have “a lot to say” at the next evidentiary hearing, if Judge Diamond calls the D.A. as a witness.

Speaking of Krasner, whenever his corruption is revealed, he can be counted on to retreat to a black church. On Wednesday, Krasner the white savior held a rally disguised as a press conference at the Salt & Light Church in West Philadelphia.

Here’s the advance notice about the event sent out by the DAO to reporters:

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to join Community Leaders, Faith-Based Leaders & Interfaith Communities, Victims and Co-Victims of Violence and Mass Incarceration in holding the "Be the Light, Bring the Light" Community Press Conference and Rally.

Organizers will speak out and condemn the PA Supreme Court for recent racist rulings aimed to perpetuate oppression, harm, and marginalization of Black People.

We're asking Philadelphians to Stand Against Anti-Blackness, Stand with Victims of Violence and Mass Incarceration, and Stand for Free, Fair & Final Elections. The event will include voices from victims and co-victims of violence and mass incarceration, faith-based leaders, victim advocates and more.

Like a true scoundrel, after his corruption has been exposed, Krasner retreats to a black church. Where he can hide behind black ministers and community leaders, and portray his critics as racists.

Yo Lawrence, try pulling that stunt in Judge Diamond’s courtroom!

Meanwhile, today on the Inky editorial page, the confederation of dunces over there finally came to the shocking realization that Krasner “has a growing credibility problem.”

Krasner, of course, was happy to reassure his favorite group of dunces that there was plenty more to the story of the Johnson case:

In an interview with members of the Editorial Board, Krasner said he could speak more freely after the hearing ended. He added that more information would come out, and he hoped that until then the public would keep an open mind.

The dunces on the editorial board, of course, remain solidly in Krasner’s corner as he continues to reform the racist criminal justice system:

Since taking office in 2018, Krasner’s office has freed 59 people, most of whom are Black men. That’s an impressive number in a short period of time.

But hey Inky dunces, how impressive are the methods he used to free “59 people, most of whom are Black men,” such as lying and cheating?

That’s Ok with you? If you’re “reforming” the system, it’s OK to break the law? And lie to judges, hide evidence, while filing false evidence?

That’s OK with you?

Yo editorial board members, I’m inviting you to take a field trip next month when Judge Diamond holds a second evidentiary hearing.

Why don’t you come down from your ivory tower and see for yourself what’s being exposed in Judge Diamond’s courtroom.

I’ll give you a hint — it’s called corruption.

And I’m willing to personally save a seat for editorial writer Daniel Pearson.

He’s the dunce who wrote an Inky editorial earlier this month that conceded that Krasner wasn’t perfect. Pearson also concluded that Krasner’s critics were merely accusing him of being “overzealous.”

And that Krasner’s problems with the state Supreme Court boiled down to merely a “simple difference of opinion.”

Yo, Danny and the dunces, come on down to Judge Diamond’s courtroom.

While you’re there, you may see your favorite progressive prosecutor up on the witness stand.

So you might get a chance to hear Krasner explain to Judge Diamond how it takes collusion and a cover up to reform the racist criminal justice system.