The Screaming Totalitarian Inside Progressive Larry Krasner

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Back in 2000, when he was a ponytailed civil rights lawyer representing protesters at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Larry Krasner claimed to be a champion of the First Amendment.

"The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution strictly protects free speech from preemptive suppression, because the loss of that illegally suppressed speech can never be restored," Krasner wrote in his 2021 book, For The People; A Story of Justice and Power.

In his book, Krasner recounted how upset he was when he heard that a judge who was a former cop was talking openly about a secret government plan to detain protesters until the Republican convention was over.

To make matters worse, Krasner wrote, "the police were giving off signs that they planned to crack down on free speech," which Krasner described as the protesters' "sacred" right. 

But as District Attorney on Monday, Krasner that former champion of the First Amendment, ordered two police officers to preemptively suppress my right to free speech by evicting me under threat of force from a press conference that the D.A. held at the Emmanuel Christian Center in West Philly. 

Why was I evicted? Because three times at that press conference, I tried to ask Krasner a question. 

In behaving like a dictator, Krasner proved David Horowitz's maxim that "Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out."

As he was leaving his press conference Monday, I asked Krasner about his past life as a civil rights lawyer, and how that squared with using the cops to preemptively suppress my right to free speech.

But once again, Krasner refused to talk to me as he got into his Ford, and his driver hit the gas pedal. A video of our confrontation is posted at the end of this story.

As district attorney, however, Krasner has not only violated my constitutional right to free speech, he has also blatantly trampled on the constitutional rights of police officers, as well as the rights of a criminal defendant who happened to be a former police officer.

Krasner's tyrannical actions were so outrageous that twice he has been formally admonished by state judges.

Krasner's 'Black List' 

The first time was in November 2021, when the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that a "Do Not Call List" of allegedly tainted cops compiled by Krasner -- a list that would prohibit those cops from testifying in court as witnesses -- was unconstitutional.

The list, subsequently published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, amounted to a "black list," the court stated, because it did not afford the accused cops due process where they could contest the charges, and have a chance to clear their names.

The 34-page opinion of the Commonwealth Court, written by Judge Patricia McCullough, was issued in the 2019 case of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 vs. the city of Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney, District Attorney Krasner, and former Police Commissioner Richard Ross.

In the opinion, the Commonwealth Court stated that in the FOP case, "a fundamental right is at stake, and the City and the District Attorney did not afford the appellant police officers the proper due process required under the Pennsylvania Constitution."

According to the court, "police officers should not be required to wait until damage to their reputations has been done before they are provided a meaningful opportunity to be heard."

According to the Commonwealth Court, the FOP had successfully contended that "police officers were not informed that they were placed on the Do Not Call List until after the fact, nor were they provided an opportunity to challenge their inclusion on the List prior to or after being placed on the List."

In the opinion, Judge McCullough stated that "the negative stigma of being included on a Do Not Call List is a threat to the appellant police officers’ reputations." 

But Larry Krasner doesn't give a damn about that.

Krasner's Unconstitutional Abuse Of The Grand Jury  

The second time Krasner was admonished by a judge for trampling on someone's constitutional rights happened last month. That's when State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty charged Krasner with abusing the grand jury process in his crusade to indict former Police Officer Ryan Pownall for murder in a racially charged officer-involved shooting case.

According to what Dougherty wrote in a concurring opinion, the D.A.'s office under Krasner was “driven by a win-at-all-cost office culture” that "treats police officers differently than other criminal defendants."

"This is the antithesis of what the law expects of a prosecutor," Dougherty wrote, adding that under the law, a prosecutor is supposed to be a "minister of justice."

In his concurring opinion, Justice Dougherty wrote that Krasner's office didn't inform the grand jury about the relevant case law involving justifiable use of force by a police officer. 

A state statute says that a police officer is "justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person."

The law goes on to say that the officer must believe "such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape," or if the suspect "has committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and possesses a deadly weapon."

According to former Detective Derrick Jacobs, who investigated the Pownall shooting on behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department, that's exactly what happened in the Pownall case.

But Larry Krasner didn't give a damn about the facts of the case. Instead, he decided to create his own facts.

Krasner Tampers With The Law To Produce A Slanted Grand Jury Presentment

According to Justice Dougherty, because the grand jury wasn't informed about the applicable law involving justifiable use of force by a police officer,  that's why the grand jury produced a "slanted" presentment that accused Pownall of murder. It was a grand jury presentment that subsequently served as a useful political tool for Larry Krasner.

"The DAO successfully moved to unseal it," Justice Dougherty wrote about the grand jury presentment. "And then, after charging Pownall, [the D.A.] directed the press to its purported factual findings."

"Not surprisingly, multiple news sources reported on the presentment’s one-sided account, with some even making the full document available online for anyone and everyone to read," Justice Dougherty wrote.

What the judge didn't say was that the media, led by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Krasner's official  propagandists, did Krasner's dirty work for him by tarring and feathering Pownall as a racist killer who wore a badge.

But the grand jury had been fed a false narrative by Larry Krasner. Here's what actually happened.

On June 8, 2017, Officer Pownall was  transporting Terrence Freeman, a witness, and his two children to the Special Victims Unit. Along the way, Pownall saw David Jones weaving in and out of traffic while driving recklessly on his dirt bike, which is illegal to operate on the streets of Philadelphia.

Pownall got out of his squad car and confronted Jones. When the cop frisked Jones, he discovered a gun in Jones' waistband. During a fight that ensued, the officer drew his gun and told Jones not to grab his weapon. Pownall tried to shoot Jones during the struggle, but his gun jammed. Jones then fled on foot and the officer fired three times, killing Jones.

In the view of former Detective Jacobs, Pownall did nothing wrong.

"Jones was armed," Jacobs previously told Big Trial. And during the fight between the two men, Jacobs  said, "Pownall believed he was shooting Jones to protect himself and possibly Freeman and his children as well."

Did Krasner Tamper With Evidence?

Not only did Krasner fix the grand jury process by not informing the grand jurors of the relevant case law, but the D.A. may have also tampered with evidence.

According to knowledgable sources, surveillance video shows that after he shot Jones, Pownall was so convinced that Jones was armed that he is seen on the video turning Jones' body over as he frantically searches the ground for Jones's gun.

The grand jury transcript in the case does not describe how much of the surveillance video was shown to the jury. In the opinion of knowledgable sources, if the grand jurors saw the full video, they could not have possibly indicted Pownall for murder.

Tampering with the law in this case, and possibly tampering with the evidence as well, isn't the full extent of Krasner's unconstitutional actions regarding former Police Officer Pownall.

In September 2018, using a faulty grand jury presentment, Krasner indicted Pownall for first-degree murder, and he was held in prison without bail. Had a judge not reduced the charge to third-degree murder, and granted Pownall bail, the ex-cop would have been in prison for the past five years.

After he indicted Pownall, Krasner successfully petitioned the courts to deny Pownall a preliminary hearing, where he would have had a chance to hear the evidence against him, and confront his accusers.

And then, for the next five years, Krasner petitioned the courts unsuccessfully to have the state statue retroactively changed regarding permissible use of deadly force by a police officer, so that Pownall  would have been denied a legal defense.

In his crusade to retroactively change the law, Krasner got all the way up to the state Supreme Court before it denied his appeal.

So after he lost his appeal in state Supreme Court, did Krasner finally dismiss his case against Pownall? 

Hell no. 

Krasner's next move was to seek a 90-day stay in the case so that he could mull over whether to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Krasner's request, however, was denied.

But for the past five years, Krasner's actions in the case have effectively denied Pownall his Sixth Amendment right to a "speedy and public trial by an impartial jury," as well as the right "to be confronted  with the witnesses against him."

For Larry Krasner, the turnaround has been complete.

For 30 years, Krasner was a civil rights lawyer who zealously advocated for the rights of protesters and accused criminals.

But as soon as  he was elected as a supposedly progressive D.A., Krasner used his newfound powers to trample on the constitutional rights of people he despises, people he believes don't deserve to have  constitutional rights.

David Horowitz called it.

As soon as he gained power, the screaming totalitarian inside Progressive Larry Krasner had to get out.