Pennsylvania Senate to put progressive prosecutor on trial
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania state Senate is beginning what could be a long and partisan process of considering whether to force Philadelphia's Democratic district attorney, Larry Krasner, from office.
Members of the Republican-controlled Senate are scheduled to formally receive impeachment articles Wednesday from House impeachment managers who will read them aloud in a ceremony before senators are sworn in as jurors.
The impeachment is part of a wave of efforts around the country to remove progressive prosecutors over crimefighting policies amid a rise in violent crime nationally. Krasner has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The Senate's Republican majority said the chamber's members are constitutionally bound to consider the impeachment articles. But minority Democrats say Republicans are unconstitutionally stretching the process past Wednesday's end of the legislative session and into a new two-year session.
The impeachment trial itself is not scheduled to start until Jan. 18. Krasner will have until Dec. 21 to enter a plea.
Krasner — a progressive civil rights lawyer who ran as an opponent of the death penalty, cash bail and prosecuting minor nonviolent offenses — was overwhelmingly reelected last year to a second four-year term. He calls his impeachment “pure politics” and an effort to subvert the will of Philadelphia voters, while Democrats call it an abuse of legislative power.
In the articles, House Republicans allege that Krasner's policies and practices “have led to catastrophic consequences” for Philadelphians.
However, Krasner said House Republicans don’t have a shred of evidence that his policies are connected to an “uptick” in crime, and numerous researchers say they've found no connection between progressive crimefighting policies and...