Philly D.A. Krasner Lied To NYT About Gun Crime Recidivism

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

District Attorney Larry Krasner told The New York Times last week that only a "small fraction" of the people  who were arrested and charged with illegally carrying guns have been rearrested for allegedly committing violent crimes. 

But crime stats tracked by Big Trial for the past four years show that more than 40% of the people who were originally arrested for illegally carrying guns during two summer months in 2019 have been rearrested and charged with new violent crimes that include nonfatal shootings, murders, rapes and carjackings. 

To make matters worse, the NYT story was published three days after a press conference in Philadelphia, where the D.A. bragged to local reporters about how tough he'd been on two gang members who'd just been sentenced for a wave of gang-related shootings back in 2018 and 2019. 

But court records reveal that both gang members were part of Krasner's "small fraction" who were originally arrested for illegally carrying guns. And then, after they were set free by a combination of a light sentence and low bail, or the D.A.'s office just plain dropped the charges, the two gang members went out and committed violent crimes.

And when the two gang members were arrested again and convicted for committing violent crimes, the D.A.'s office under Krasner didn't exactly crack down on them, as Krasner would have you believe. Instead, the D.A.'s office under Krasner gave the two gang members plea bargains that were so lenient they amounted to deals too good to turn down.

So Krasner was lying about that small fraction of illegal gun carriers who get rearrested for violent crimes, and he was lying about getting tough on those two gang members.

But as usual when he deals with gullible progressive media outlets, Krasner got away with both lies, with the exception of Big Trial. At the press conference here in Philadelphia, I twice attempted to question Krasner about a lenient sentence that one of those gang members received. 

And Krasner's response was to order the police to forcibly evict me from the building, a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. 

Let's start with Krasner's claim about the allegedly low rate of recidivism among those arrested for illegally carrying guns. 

In an interview with The New York Times, the newspaper attributed this claim to Krasner, a claim that he has made many times before: 

Only a small fraction of the people who are arrested for carrying guns without permits are the ones actually driving the violence, Mr. Krasner said.

But a Big Trial survey of gun arrests made in July and August of 2019 shows that out of 472 defendants charged with allegedly carrying illegal guns, a total of 193, or 40.9%, were rearrested for allegedly committing a total of 304 alleged new crimes that included 14 murders, 20 nonfatal shootings, 9 robberies/carjackings, 4 rapes, plus 90 new cases of allegedly carrying illegal guns.

That's no small percentage. Yet nobody at the NYT challenged Krasner, to see if he has any data to back up his claim. The rate of recidivism for people who get arrested for gun crimes is a stat that the D.A.'s own Public Data Dashboard doesn't keep, a decision that by design amounts to a conspicuous omission.

Because any accurate tracking of the recidivism rate for defendants arrested for illegally carrying guns would be a problem for Larry Krasner at a time when the Pennsylvania state legislature is threatening to impeach him.

The NYT Goes Soft On Soft-On-Crime Krasner

The headline on the NYT story last week was: " ‘Everybody Is Armed’: As Shootings Soar, Philadelphia Is Awash in Guns."

The subhead: "More than 1,400 people have been shot this year in Philadelphia, hundreds of them fatally — a higher toll than in much larger New York or Los Angeles."

This is true. Philadelphia, a city of 1.58 million people, set an all-time record for murders last year, with 562 murders. As of last night, the city has 344 murders this year, a slight 2% increase over last year's historic murder rate.

By contrast, New York City, with 8.38 million people, more than 5 times the population of Philadelphia, had, as of Aug. 7th, only 261 murders this year, an 8% decrease over last year.

As of Aug. 6th, Los Angeles, with a population of 3.97 million, more than double Philadelphia's population, had 234 murders, a 4% decrease over last year.

Since Krasner has been D.A., the annual murder rate has jumped from 315 in 2017, the year before he was elected, to that all-time record last year of 562, a 78% increase. Similarly, non-fatal shootings have escalated under Krasner's tenure from 1,028 in 2017, the year before he took office, to 1,846 last year, a 79% increase.

But if you read progressive news media outlets like the New York Times, they would all have you believe that the D.A.'s permissive policies have nothing to do with the contemporaneous shooting and murder rampage.

Here's how the NYT covered for Krasner last week:

Mr. Krasner, one of the most prominent progressive prosecutors in the country, has long argued that putting a major focus on the arrest and incarceration of people caught carrying firearms without a permit is not only ineffectual but counterproductive . . .

Only a small fraction of the people who are arrested for carrying guns without permits are the ones actually driving the violence, Mr. Krasner said . . . 

“What is their theory — that rather than go vigorously after the people who actually shoot the gun,” Mr. Krasner asked, “that we should take 100 people and put them in jail, because one of them might shoot somebody?”

Here's my theory, Mr. D.A.

How about putting 100 people in jail who get caught carrying illegal guns for serious sentences recommended by the state legislature for gun crimes, rather than the generous plea bargains that Krasner routinely gives to everybody? 

Because Big Trial's crime stats show that nearly 41 out of 100 defendants arrested for illegally carrying guns during two months in 2019 used their newfound freedom to go out and allegedly commit more crimes, such as shooting, killing, raping and carjacking other people.

While Krasner continues to con the media about his woeful record on prosecuting crime, in Philadelphia, blood continues to be shed at historic rates. The city this year may set new all-time records not only for murders, but also for nonfatal shootings, as well as carjackings. 

But if you listen to Larry Krasner, none of the ongoing epidemic of violent crime is his fault. He routinely blames the police, judges, witnesses, drugs, poverty, the pandemic, and lousy public schools. 

But Krasner never looks in the mirror, and the progressive media continues to let him get away with it.

Repeat Felons And Lenient Sentences

In Pennsylvania, the crime of illegally carrying a gun without a license is technically known as a Violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. In Pennsylvania, it's also the law that convicted felons are legally barred from carrying a gun.

But that doesn't stop Philly felons from continuing to be armed and dangerous. 

The stats from July and August of 2019 show that out of 201 felons arrested in Philadelphia for the crime of illegally carrying guns, a total of 89 of the felon defendants, or 44.2%, were arrested again for allegedly committing a total of 142 new crimes.

During the same period, a total out of 124 defendants who weren't felons yet were charged with carrying firearms without a license, and a total of 56, or 45.1%, were rearrested and charged with committing 93 new crimes.

Besides the high rate of recidivism, the prosecution of gun crimes in the D.A.'s office has another problem -- lenient sentences. In prosecuting gun crimes, it's the policy of the D.A.'s office under Larry Krasner to routinely give out sentences well below state sentencing guidelines. 

According to those state guidelines, the maximum sentence on a VUFA charge that's a first-degree misdemeanor, such as carrying a firearm in public, is up to five years in jail. 

For a third-degree felony such as carrying a firearm without a license, it's up to seven years in jail.

And for a first-degree felony, which usually involves using a gun in the commission of a shooting, kidnaping, attempted murder, rape, robbery or carjacking, the maximum penalty is up to 20 years in jail. 

But that's not the kind of sentences that D.A. Krasner negotiates, and that judges are imposing.

According to court records, only 41 of the 176 defendants who were arrested in July and August of 2019 who were subsequently convicted, or 23% got sentenced to a state prison for at least one year.

And only five of those 41 state sentences, or 12%, were sentences that fell within the state legislature's recommended sentencing guidelines. 

A Career Criminal Goes On A New Crime Spree 

And, court records show, on the rare occasion when the  D.A.'s office prosecutes a gun offender and gives him a state sentence, Krasner's office staffed with largely rookie prosecutors is so inexperienced and/or incompetent that many a dangerous offender will wind up back on the street, to commit more crimes.

Such as Lamar Beatty, 55, of West Philadelphia, a career criminal who previously had done time for burglary, forgery, gunpoint robbery, criminal conspiracy, retaliation against a witness, drugs, assault, false reporting of a crime, and theft. 

On June 4, 2019, the cops arrested Beatty again and charged him with violating a court order and possession of drugs. But when it came time to prosecute this career criminal, the D.A.'s office decided to withdraw both charges against Beatty.

The very next month, on July 4, 2019, the cops arrested Beatty again and charged him with being a felon in illegal possession of a gun, plus simple assault, and possession of an instrument of crime. 

But just two months later, on Sept. 10, 2019, Beatty was released on unsecured bail, meaning he didn't have to part with a dollar to get out of jail. 

While out on bail, Beatty went on a new crime spree. Over the course of a year, starting on July 19, 2202, Beatty was arrested on two cases that included burglarizing a home and committing a robbery inside, and burglarizing a home and committing a rape inside. 

On June 28, 2021, the cops arrested Beatty again and charged him with another rape.

Here we have a career criminal with open gun charges against him who is rearrested three times and charged with serious crimes of violence involving two burglaries and two rapes. 

Lamar Beatty is the exact kind of habitual violent offender that Krasner claims his office wants to concentrate on prosecuting, to reduce gun violence. So what did the D.A.'s office do with this career criminal?

On Aug. 5, 2021, Beatty pleaded guilty to the three original charges from 2019 -- being a felon caught illegally carrying a gun, assault, and possession of an instrument of crime. 

But the D.A.'s office withdrew the two new charges filed against him in 2020, for robbery, burglary and rape; the D.A.'s office also dropped the charges in the 2021 case against Beatty involving another alleged rape. 

By failing to aggressively prosecute Beatty on his 2019 gun crime and related charges, the D.A.'s office failed to protect the public. Court records show that for two years the D.A.'s office did absolutely nothing to prosecute Beatty until his new crime spree was over.

He was finally sentenced on the original charges from 2019, of being a felon in illegal possession of a gun, plus simple assault, and possession of an instrument of crime, to just 6 to 12 years in jail. And he didn't have to go there until March 3rd of this year. 

If you're keeping score at home, that's five cases in two years against Beatty, and the D.A.'s office was only able to successfully prosecute just one out of those five cases. 

Here's another example of another lenient sentence from Krasner's office.

On June 15, 2019, Jailee Lee was arrested and charged with a gunpoint robbery and a burglary. On July 12, 2019, he was arrested again for a total of three carjackings. 

On Feb. 25, 2020, in a negotiated plea bargain deal with the D.A.'s office under Larry Krasner, the sentence Lee received for all five crimes that he pleaded guilty to amounted to just 5 to 10 years in jail, with all the sentences running concurrently.

That's a sentence that amounts to just one year per crime.

Rappin' Larry Goes Off On Gang Members

Krasner called a press conference last week to brag about how tough he was on prosecuting gun crimes committed by two members of a street gang known as "02da4."

"02da4. Today, we want to send a very clear message to the members of 02da4," Krasner began.

"You like that name? How about go to da jail?," Krasner said. "Because that is where you're gonna go. And I don't just mean the two people we're here to talk about today."

"Members of 02da4 who are causing mayhem on our streets, who are terrifying the population, get ready 02da4, to go to da jail," Krasner continued. "Because that is what's going to happen. That is what justice looks like, and that is what you deserve."

Then, Rappin' Larry called out the names of other local street gangs that included the pit boys, the brickyard mafia and the topsiders. 

"Time is up where you gonna go to da jail," Rappin' Larry said. "If you illegally carry a  firearm. If you point firearms at other humans and you pull the trigger, expect to be held accountable. And you will be held accountable the same way Xavier Veney and Sabir Scott are being held accountable for their role in a number of shootings in West Philadelphia."

"Make no mistake, 02da4, we're coming for you," Krasner bragged. "We already know a lot more than you think. We're gonna get you. What ever you're doing; you better stop and you better stop now."

What Really Happened With Xavier Veney

Xavier Veney is yet another member of that "small faction" of people who get arrested for illegally carrying guns and then go out and get arrested again for allegedly committing violent crimes.

Veney, 23, of West Philadelphia, was arrested on July 31, 2019, for carrying firearms without a license and carrying firearms in public.

Just a month earlier, on June 21, 2019, Veney had been arrested for -- you guessed it -- carrying firearms without a license, and carrying firearms in public. 

On Aug. 1, 2019, after his second arrest for gun crimes, his bail was set at $25,000. But on Sept. 10, Veney's lawyer made a successful motion to reduce bail to $5,000. And Veney posted $500, or 10 percent, to get out of jail.

Just a week later, on Sept. 17, 2019, Veney entered into a negotiated guilty plea with the D.A.'s office that called for a concurrent sentence for both sets of gun charges that ran a total of 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail, plus 5 years probation.

It was quite a deal for Veney considering the state guidelines for just one of his crimes, carrying firearms without a license, a third-degree felony, calls for up to seven years in jail.

But Veney only served up to eight months in jail, because under the deal he cut with the D.A.'s office, he got out on immediate parole.

And what did Xavier Veney do when he got out of jail? He went right back to his life of crime.

On May 13, 2020, the cops arrested Veney a third time. This time the cops charged Veney with carrying firearms without a license, intentional possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, and carrying a firearm during an emergency.

Xavier Veney had three VUFA arrests between June 2019 and May 2020 when on Oct. 7, 2021, he was arrested again and charged with two attempted murders, one in 2018, and one in 2019.

In the gang wars, Veney was charged with shooting a 19 year-old and a 21 year-old, plus a third shooting, of a 54 year-old who was an innocent bystander. 

On top of those charges, the feds had already convicted Veney in a separate case on another gun charge, and sentenced him to 30 months in jail.

So what did the D.A.'s office do with Veney?

On July 28th, Veney pleaded guilty in the gang wars to two charges of aggravated assault and one count of carrying unlicensed firearms. It was a negotiated plea bargain with the D.A.'s office that involved a prison sentence of 8 to 16 years, to be served concurrently with Veney's federal sentence.

So that meant that Veney's new sentence, when subtracted from his previous federal sentence, amounted to just an extra five and a half years in prison for shooting three people!

Contrary to what Larry Krasner had to say at his press conference about getting tough with gang members, the real message the rappin' D.A. sent out is that the cost of shooting rival gang members and innocent bystanders is negligible. 

Veney will be back on the street in eight years.

What Happened To Sabir Scott

Sabir Scott, 26, of the Juniata section of the city, is another member of D.A. Krasner's "small fraction" of people caught illegally carrying a gun who go out and commit another violent crime.

In 2015, Scott was sentenced to 9 to 23 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and conspiracy, plus two years probation.

On Sept. 16, 2018, while on probation, Scott was arrested again and charged with three gun charges. But two months later, on Nov. 16, 2018, all three charges were dismissed. 

On Aug. 25, 2020, Scott was arrested and charged with carrying firearms without a license and possession of a prohibited firearm. On July 25th of this year he pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to 5 1/2 to 11 years in jail.

That sentence was to be served concurrently with Scott's sentence for shooting the 54 year-old innocent bystander in the gang wars. Scott pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and the two gun charges. 

Like Veney, Scott was originally charged with attempted murder for trying to kill rival gang members, but was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated assault. 

According to court records, on Aug. 25, 2020, Scott began serving his two concurrent sentences on the gun charges, as well as the charges of shooting the innocent bystander. 

He should be out shortly after the next election for D.A.

No wonder Larry Krasner ordered the cops to escort me out of his press conference after I tried to question him about the supposedly tough sentences he had imposed on the gang members.

Because the real facts of those cases would have shown that Krasner was lying.

But since the media hasn't exposed Krasner for the lying fraud that he is, the D.A. escapes accountability while he keeps playing politics. And that's what he continues to do.

In the August issue newsletter of the D.A.'s office newsletter, The Justice Journal, Krasner editorialized about former president Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But he could have been talking about himself.  

"Authoritarians crave power without accountability and will stop at nothing in their quest to dominate and rule over people," Krasner wrote. "They will try to remove defenders of democracy through executive authority; they will use every possible weapon in service of their agenda, including violence."