D.A. Krasner Uses BS, Deceptive Stats To Con Public About Crime

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Attention Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner is using some BS and a batch of misleading crime stats to try and cover up how his permissive policies have fueled gun violence.

Krasner, who was publicly ripped last month at a joint press conference held by the mayor and police commissioner for his revolving door style of justice, held his own virtual press conference last Friday, with just an underling present. There weren't any other city officials around, or any reporters, not even on Zoom, so that anybody could question Krasner's fraudulent claims or deceptive stats.

The Philadelphia Inquirer may have given fellow progressive Krasner a pass while Philadelphians this year are shooting and killing each other at record rates, but here at Big Trial, we're going to hold the D.A. accountable.

At his virtual press conference, Krasner tried to con his fellow citizens into believing that the crime rate in the city is actually down when just the opposite is true. And no amount of lying or spin-doctoring is going to change that, or wash the blood off Krasner's hands.

Krasner began his virtual press conference with a dog and pony show that featured Anthony Voci, his hapless chief of homicide.

When last seen on Big Trial, Voci was unsuccessfully trying to schedule a cuddle session with a therapy dog, cat and Easter bunny.

At the virtual press conference, Voci gave a speech about how he and his top assistant have "literally worked every single day" in the five weeks since the March 13th murder of Corporal James O'Connor.

According to Voci, he and his top assistant have been "combing through a variety of evidence, not the least of which includes correspondence, phone calls, emails and importantly, forensic evidence."

In talking about the evidence, however, especially the emails, Voci gave the lawyers who will defend O'Connor's killers a gift. Now they can ask for all of the city's emails in regards to this case, and if something's been deleted, those same defense lawyers can start screaming about prosecutorial misconduct.

In a case where the death penalty is in play -- a punishment that Krasner has vowed he would never seek -- defense lawyers may now have an argument for dropping or reducing the charges, or maybe even getting the case thrown out all together.

To cops who watched the virtual press conference, Voci had made a highly unusual and highly inappropriate admission. Said one angry veteran cop, "I am fucking sick right now because I can see from a mile away how they just gave [O'Connor] up."

A seasoned former prosecutor agreed with the veteran cop's assessment.

"He [Voci] has just opened up a Pandora's box that allows the defense to engage in a fishing expedition," the seasoned former prosecutor said. Voci should have kept his mouth shut about the evidence because a prosecutor shouldn't say anything about that subject before trial. The defense, the seasoned prosecutor said, can also make some hay over the fact that it took the D.A.'s office five weeks to bring murder charges against the other suspects in the case.

After he got through gift-wrapping a present for defense lawyers, Voci announced that the district attorney's office had charged two more suspects with the murder of Sgt. O'Connor. The D.A.'s office also charged the other two suspects with the attempted murder of seven members of a SWAT team that OConnor was leading the day he was killed, plus a conspiracy charge.

"Thank you, Mr. Voci, I appreciate that," Krasner said when Voci was finally done.

Some obvious points need to be made here. First and foremost, the district attorney's refusal to prosecute gun crimes and his turnstile-spinning way of dealing with dangerous, armed drug dealers is directly responsible for the murder of Corporal O'Connor.

This is something both Voci and Krasner would like you to forget.

But before he murdered Corporal O'Connor, on Jan. 24, 2018, Hassan Elliott pleaded guilty to carrying firearms without a license. Three times later that same year, Elliott was brought before a judge on alleged parole violations. Three times Elliott could have wound up in jail, but three times the D.A.'s office gave him a pass, and let him out.

On Jan. 29, 2019, Elliott was arrested again and charged with possession of a controlled substance. He could have been thrown in jail that same day to serve another 16 months in prison, but the D.A.'s office gave him another pass. On March 27, 2019, Elliott's drug case came up in court. Elliott didn't even bother to show, but the D.A.'s office did Elliott another big favor by dropping the drug charge against him because of "prosecutorial discretion."

If the D.A. had simply done his job on four different occasions, Elliott, 21,  Elliott would have been in jail and Corporal O'Connor would still be alive. According to police, it was Elliott who used an automatic rifle to fire the shots through a rowhouse door that killed O'Connor.

Next, there's Bilal Mitchell, whom the D.A.'s office arrested on Friday and charged with the murder of Corporal O'Connor, the attempted murder of seven other members of the SWAT team, plus the conspiracy rap.

Mitchell was holed up with Elliott, his fellow gang member, when O'Connor was murdered. But just a month before the murder of O'Connor, police twice arrested Mitchell, 19, for drug dealing, and also charged him with carrying illegal guns.  At the time of the two drug arrests, Mitchell had three open juvenile cases and one previous arrest as an adult, and he was on a GPS monitor.

At any time during this one-man crime spree, the D.A.'s office could have put Mitchell in jail. But what did the D.A.'s office do? They set low bail both times on the two drug charges this past February, and twice Mitchell walked.

At their virtual press conference, Voci and Krasner took pride in explaining that it took five weeks of exhaustive investigation before they could charge Mitchell, and a third accomplice, Khalif Sears, 18, another gang member, with the murder of O'Connor, the attempted murder of the seven other SWAT team members, plus the conspiracy rap.

But any competent D.A.'s office could have charged all three suspects with all those charges five weeks ago, on the day O'Connor was murdered.

Now, onto Krasner's misleading presentation on "crime statistics around the period of the pandemic."

"I would say in terms of crime statistics, we have a very complicated and somewhat mixed report," Professor Krasner began his  lecture.

Here's what Krasner was trying to do with his own batch of just-baked crime stats. In a situation where all the arrows on crime were pointing straight up, Krasner wanted to muddy a clear picture.

"In general, overall, simply by looking at the police department's own statistics," the district attorney asserted, "I'm sure you are aware that crime overall is down. And I'm sure you're also aware that violent crime overall . . . that is also down," the D.A. claimed.

Two big lies.

Reality check, Mr. D.A. Overall crime is up, according to police statistics, and so is violent crime. And here are the latest police stats as of yesterday to prove it:

-- homicides, up 17%, from 100 murders this time last year, to 117 as of yesterday.

-- armed robbery, up 10%, from 559 this time last year, to 613 as of yesterday.

-- aggravated assault with a firearm, up 19%, from 676 this time last year, to 803 as of yesterday.

-- commercial burglary, up 22%, from 338 this time last year, to 412 as of yesterday.

-- theft of motor vehicle tags, up 14%, from 438 this time last year, to 498 as of yesterday.

-- retail theft, up 40%, from 2,262 this time last year, to 3,170 as of yesterday.

-- auto theft, up 22%, from 1,794 this time last year, to 2,186 as of yesterday.

-- shooting incidents, up 64%, from 451 this time last year, to 741 as of yesterday.

-- shooting victims, up 14%, from 374 this time last year, to 427 as of yesterday.

So there you have it folks, when it comes to the soaring crime rate, Larry Krasner is lying. But even at his virtual press conference, Krasner had to admit that some categories of crime were way, way up.

"We are nonetheless having a pretty terrible experience with shootings, with homicides and a very significant spike in commercial burglaries," the D.A. said, sounding mystified, as though it's really hard to figure out what's going on here in Philadelphia with the crime rate.

Next, Krasner unveiled a new statistical way to look at crime. He took a week out of this month, April 8th to 14th, and compared it with what the D.A. said was a supposedly average week of crime between January 2017 and March 14, 2020.

What Krasner appeared to be doing was to compare the city's crime rate on pandemic lockdown versus the city's crime rate back when things were normal.

So according to Krasner's stats, homicides, which usually average between 4 to 8 during the week of April 8 -14, were up to just 9 homicides during the week of April 8th the April 14th. So that was just a slight increase.

But in incidents of rape, Krasner said, which normally average between 16 and 22 incidents a week, we are down to only 9 incidents between April 8th and 14th. So crime is actually going down in that category, the D.A. said.

With robbery with a gun, there are normally 35 1/2 to 50 incidents a week, Krasner said, but this year, between April 8th and 14th, it's only 36. So once again, according to the D.A., crime is going down.

You get the idea.

Big Trial asked a seasoned professor of criminology who has several decades of experience on the street as a cop but prefers to remain anonymous, to critique Krasner's presentation.

"What he [Krasner] is not doing is comparing the overall citywide [crime] totals from this time last year, to this time this year," the seasoned criminology professor said. "The reason he is not doing that is because crime is way up. He doesn't want to admit that."

"If you believe Krasner's argument that crime is down, explain how retail theft is up 40%, citywide, with all the stores that are currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic?" the seasoned professor asked. "This is just one quantitative illustration of how Krasner's policies of not arresting retail theft offenders for any crime where the value of the stolen items are less than $500, are directly and negatively having an effect on the rising crime rates." 

"Most importantly, let's now take a look at the many different increases in all categories of firearm related crimes," the seasoned criminology professor said. "A strong academic and quantitative argument can be made that the sharp rise in all categories of crimes committed with a firearm, are a direct result of Krasner's policy of not upholding and enforcing Pennsylvania state statutes that govern illegal possession of a firearm and the mandatory sentences that are required to be imposed," the seasoned professor said.

"Homicides are up 17%; robbery by gun are up 10%; aggravated assaults by firearm are up 19%; shooting incidents are up 64%; and shooting victims are up 14%," the professor reiterated.  "These are all clear indications that the criminal element feels emboldened and has no fear of being caught with an illegal firearm in Philadelphia, subsequently prosecuted, and forced to serve mandatory prison terms."

Besides the police stats that prove Krasner wrong, there's also the daily witness provided by the police blotter. In less than four hours yesterday morning, in a city where the D.A. is telling us the crime rate is gong down, a half-dozen men were shot, one of whom died.

The carnage began at 6:29 a.m., at 2800 Front Street, when a 48-year-old Hispanic male was shot seven times in both legs and the groin. He was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was reported in critical condition.

At 6:40 a.m. yesterday at 1623 Foulkrod Street, a 24 year-old black male was shot once in the right hip. He was transported to Temple University Hospital where he was reported in critical condition.

At 9:22 a.m. yesterday at 2900 Mutter Street, a 28 year-old Hispanic man was shot in the right arm and transported to Episcopal Hospital where he was reported in stable condition. At the same address, a 45 year-old black male was shot in both legs and in the stomach, and was reported in critical condition at Episcopal Hospital. And a third victim at the same location, a 30-year-old white male, was shot in both legs, the groin and stomach. He was reported at Episcopal Hospital to be in critical condition.

And finally at 10:20 a.m. yesterday at 63rd and Market, a 29 year-old black male was found unresponsive in the woods with a gunshot to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene, becoming the city's 117th homicide this year.

It's more proof, Mr. Krasner, of which way the crime is going, as in up, up, up. And despite how you tried to con us at your virtual press conference, we all know that your policies are responsible for the carnage in the streets.