Terrified Larry Krasner Runs And Hides From Reporter

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

At a press conference today, a visibly nervous and fidgety Larry Krasner went out of his way to ignore repeated questions about the sweetheart deal his office gave Derrick Jones, the allegedly deranged killer accused of stalking and  executing three SEPTA riders. 

"And I am going to ask if there are any questions," Krasner said, before throwing his weekly press conference open to reporters.

"However, instead of our usual scrum, and I say that respectfully, I think there are occasions where some journalists who are the most aggressive get most of the attention," Krasner said. "That doesn't seem fair to me."

Anybody who's watched the tame press conferences broadcast online that follow Krasner's weekly Monday morning dog-and-pony shows would have to wonder what scrums the D.A. was talking about. The entire local press corps is better known for its docile passivity when dealing with Krasner.

The D.A.'s press conferences are so dull that one local TV station has taken to just sending a film crew over to record the proceedings without bringing along any reporter who might dare to challenge what our frequently delusional D.A. has to say. 

But that didn't stop the D.A. today from inventing a solution to the non-existent problem of those violent reporters' scrums that exist only in Krasner's imagination. The D.A. proceeded to calm a potential journalistic riot by calling on individual reporters from his right to his left, to see if they had any questions.

 My problem was that I was the last guy to the left of Krasner. And the previous week, he had actually hustled out of a press conference rather than answer any of my questions. So I was determined not to let him get away with ducking me again. 

"I'm just gonna go down the line and see if there are any questions from the journalists who are here," Krasner said.

"What about Derrick Jones?" I interrupted. 

"Excuse me sir," Krasner said. "As I said, we're not gonna have a scrum. We're gonna start over here. Mr. Dean?" he began, before taking several questions from Mensah Dean of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

"What can you tell us about Derrick Jones?"

After Dean got through, I asked Krasner again, "What about Derrick Jones?"

"Sir, please," the D.A. said before calling on another reporter.

People noticed that the D.A. appeared agitated.

"He gets flustered quickly when challenged on anything," one viewer posted on the D.A.'s Facebook page.

For the second week in a row, Krasner completely rearranged the format of his weekly press conference for the sole purpose of dodging questions from your humble Big Trial correspondent. 

Last week, Krasner would only let reporters at his press conference ask him questions about swimming pools.

Reporters who had questions about other subjects -- such as crime and punishment, for example -- had to stand in a confessional-style line in the hallway before they got a private audience with the district attorney of Philadelphia.

I was the only reporter in the building that Krasner refused to talk to. And when he got through answering everybody else's questions, Krasner and his security team literally hustled out of the building rather than take any questions from me.

Last week, one of Krasner's security team actually told me that Krasner was holding a "private press conference," and that I was not invited. For a time, she even locked a door to keep me out. 

This week, Krasner tried to give me the slip by actually withholding the location of his press conference until an hour before the event, no doubt hoping I wouldn't show up.

When he filed into the National Temple Baptist Church at 16th and Master in North Philly, Krasner spent some time chatting up individual reporters. Then, he noticed me. He immediately alerted his security team and all of them quickly exited the room where the press conference was about to be held.

When he went by me, about a foot away, Krasner had his Covid mask on. He wouldn't make eye contact and his face seemed visibly dark with rage. When he came back inside about 20 minutes later, he began his elaborate charade of calling upon every reporter in the building but me. 

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore came to the podium to answer questions about a recent murder case. When she was finished another reporter piped up and asked while she was there if she could answer a question about another case.

She dutifully complied, so I figured why not try the same routine.

"What can you tell us about Derrick Jones," I asked.

For a moment, ADA Pescatore, who was in the process of leaving the podium, hesitated, and seemed prepared to respond to my question.

Then, like the proverbial deer in the headlights, ADA Pescatore glanced at me, and with a frightened look she scurried to the back of the room while a tense Krasner and another ADA looked on. 

Here's what I wanted to ask the D.A. about Derrick Jones.

When Jones was arrested at age 18 on three gun charges, he was already on juvenile probation after being found to be an adjudicated delinquent, the equivalent of guilty, in two cases that had Jones been an adult, would have been the equivalent of felonies.

When he was arrested as an adult on the three gun charges, because he already had a rap sheet, Jones  under the sentencing guidelines promulgated by the state Legislature was facing a minimum sentence of three to six years in jail.

Instead, in 2019 Krasner's office gave Jones a sentence of 11 1/2 months to 23 months in jail. But after he served the minimum of 11 1/2 months, the D.A.'s office let Jones out of jail and allowed him to serve the rest of his sentence on house arrest.

According to the cops, Jones, on probation as an adult, used his freedom to ride SEPTA buses and trains, to stalk and execute three young men over a two-week period. When a SWAT team raided Jones's house and arrested him, he was packing a 45 caliber Glock 21 pistol with an extended magazine and 31 live rounds, plus an additional 76 live rounds.

"The motive is unknown," Homicide Captain Jason Smith told reporters. "That is the burning question. Why why did Mr. Jones murder in cold blood three males? . . . "This is a total random act of violence."

It was also a total random act of violence that according to our D.A. doesn't happen.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Krasner's partner in progressivism, the D.A.'s office "has long contended that there’s little evidence to suggest people who are arrested in Philadelphia for nonviolent gun offenses go on to commit shootings and homicides."

So I wanted to ask Larry Krasner what he had to say about Derrick Jones. But at the press conference, it was obvious Krasner had no intention of calling upon me. So I decided my only option was to interrupt him again.

"Derrick Jones," I said to Krasner. "Why did you give him a sweetheart deal?"

This is when the Philly D.A. decided to get tough and actually threaten me in front of a roomful of reporters.

"Sir, sir, please," Krasner said. "Mr. Cipriano, if you're gonna disturb the proceedings, we're gonna have to do something about it."

Then he returned to give KYW's Kristen Johanson another chance to ask another question.

"Miss Johanson, did you have any other questions?" the D.A. asked. 

By this time, Krasner had reached my side of the room but he was glancing at his watch and seemed to be running out of time.

"Miss Johanson, is there anything else?" he asked. 

But she was finally done. So Krasner turned his attention to the rest of the reporters in the room.

"Ok, are there any questions?" he asked.

"Derrick Jones," I asked one last time. "Why'd you give him a sweetheart sentence?"

But Krasner was still hiding from me.

"Excuse me, are there any other questions?" he asked.

 "Thank you," he said, without looking my way. And then he ended the press conference.

I followed Krasner and his security detail out the door.

"Mr. Krasner," I asked. "What are you afraid of?"

But once again, Krasner wouldn't answer. Before he got into his black Ford Crown Vic, however, Krasner had plenty of time to answer further questions from other reporters who had followed him outside.

I asked one reporter I knew what was wrong with our D.A., who, for the second week in a row, was running away from a blogger.

"He's afraid of you," the reporter said. "He knows we all read you."