U.S. Attorney Rips Krasner, Inky, Over Killing By D.A.'s Staffer

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

It's day two of the local news media blackout over the latest scandal in the Philly D.A.'s office, involving a gun violence counselor who shot and killed a male prostitute.

And who's trying to expose the ongoing cover up? 

U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain went on Twitter today to rip D.A. Larry Krasner:

"Your Philly DA's office: where Krasner hires an employee who allegedly ends up shooting and killing a man. You can't even make this stuff up. The destruction that Krasner has wrought on that office is a tragedy."

McSwain subsequently went on Twitter again to rip The Philadelphia Inquirer, which, as usual, was sleeping through another news cycle involving possible bad publicity for their favorite progressive D.A.:

"So where's the @PhillyInquirer article on this? Everybody knows that the Inquirer bends over backwards to protect Krasner, but this is a little too obvious -- even for them."

Gabriel Escobar, editor and vice president of the Inquirer, did not respond to an email and questions posed on Twitter as to why the Inquirer continues to cover up for Larry Krasner. Meanwhile, Krasner, along with his alleged spokesperson, Jane Roh, were stonewalling as usual, refusing to comment. 

In case you missed it, shortly before 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, DeVonte' Douglass, 28, of the D.A.'s office shot and killed Vernon Harris, 31, after the two met on Instagram, and according to what Douglass told the cops, Douglass agreed "to a sexual encounter in exchange for money." 

Douglass was interviewed by detectives in the homicide unit of the Philadelphia Police Department, but was not arrested. In an interview, Douglass claimed after his encounter with the male prostitute, Harris pulled a gun on Douglass and tried to rob him. Douglass responded that after Harris stuck his Smith & Wesson .357 magnum in his waistband, he made a move that Douglass interpreted as going for his gun.

So Douglass whipped out his 9 mm pistol and shot Harris twice in the chest. A police source said this was not the first time these two men had had a sexual encounter for money, and that the price was $500.

Cops said the victim's gun was holstered when they found him dead at the scene, a scenario that could turn an alleged shooting in self defense into a murder. 

The cops said that Douglass had a permit to carry his gun, but another logical question is why is a civilian in the D.A.'s office who's a gun violence counselor carrying a gun?

The case was referred to the state attorney general's office for investigation, an office spokesperson confirmed. Sources say the A.G.'s office has made a decision not to arrest Douglass, who contends that he was acting in self-defense, but an office spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The area's media outlets were slow to react to the shooting, and when they did, it was in a timid and wary way that reeked of censorship. In a nine-sentence story, Kristin Johanson of KYW Radio did not identify Douglass, other than to say that the shooting involved "a Philadelphia District Attorney's Office Employee" who worked as a "Victim/Witness Services Coordinator." The KYW story also did not identify the victim.

On Twitter, Johanson explained to critics that the shooting was only worthy of a brief, with no names mentioned, because the shooter had not been arrested for a crime. Johanson also tweeted that it would be "hurtful," "spiteful," and might possibly cause "irreparable harm" to out someone for being gay, especially if the nature of the relationship was unknown. 

She also tweeted that outing the shooter amounted to "sensationalism" and "mockery." This is where we're at when it comes to our social justice warriors in the media, who are actively involved in censoring the news to accommodate their P.C. beliefs. 

NBC-10 aired a minute-long story by Randy Gyllenhaal on this morning's newscast. The station also posted a six-paragraph news story on the shooting of an unnamed "sex worker" by an unnamed employee of the D.A.'s office.

But NBC-10 did get a statement out of Krasner's office.

"This is an active investigation that has been appropriately referred to another agency," Jane Roh, a spokesperson for the District Attorney's office said. "We have no further comment at this time."

Last night, at 8:46 p.m., after two days of silence, the Inquirer finally posted a story written by reporter Mensah Dean about the shooting incident that identified Douglass by name, occupation, and also ran a photo of the shooter. The Inky story also identified the victim, "described by authorities as a male prostitute."

Apparently, it's not sensationalism or mockery when the Inquirer does it. 

In the story, which subsequently disappeared from the newspaper's website this morning, the unusually talkative Jane Roh told the Inquirer that Douglass had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the state investigation. 

There may be a reason why the story disappeared so quickly from inquirer.com, and the fact that you had to do a Google search to find it. The story included this sentence: "The shooting was first reported by the website BigTrial.net."

Apparently, this was a story that the Inquirer was reluctant to share with readers, because of their continuous support of Krasner and his progressive policies. So they had to be publicly called out by the U.S. Attorney, and embarrassed into publishing the news.

And after they took their bitter medicine, and posted the distasteful story last night, a story that puts our progressive D.A. in a bad light, the editors at the Inky decided they had to get rid of it as soon as possible. 

That's how much the Inquirer, and the rest of the media, are in the tank for Uncle Larry. It goes as far as being willing to overlook a dead body left behind by one of his employees.