Why not just call it the Soros DA’s office? Soros has poured money into a variety of DA candidates across the country. This guy goes in and will now replace a substantial portion of the office, the most experienced people, right in the middle of their trials, completely disrupting those cases. Very troubling. And this is what Soros wants to do across the country.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner ousted 31 members of the office Friday, a dramatic shake-up and the first major staffing decision announced by the city’s new top prosecutor, just three days after he was sworn in.
Krasner’s spokesman, Ben Waxman, said the dismissals were part of a “broad reorganization” of the office’s structure and a way to implement a culture change in an institution Krasner frequently criticized during the campaign.
In seeking their resignations, the new district attorney “thanks them for their service to the city,” Waxman said in a statement. “However, he made clear his intention to take the office in a different direction.”
The sweeping change affected lawyers of all ranks and could represent a 10 percent reduction in the number of prosecutors. Names were not released, but current and former employees — none authorized to publicly discuss the moves — said the group included trial attorneys and some supervisor-level staff, many with decades of experience. As many as a third of the office’s homicide prosecutors were asked to leave, sources said.
The announcement was the first bombshell in what some of his supporters have hoped — and his critics have feared — would be a wave of drastic changes accompanying the installation of the career civil rights lawyer to the city’s top law enforcement job.
During his campaign, Krasner pledged to reduce the number of people behind bars, never use the death penalty, and seek to end use of cash bail — goals that earned praise from fellow Democrats and liberal criminal justice observers, but skepticism or even scorn from other law enforcement officials. After his victory, Krasner reiterated his priorities but downplayed concerns about a possible exodus or mass purging of staff.
He wasn’t available for comment Friday, and Waxman declined to elaborate on reasons behind individual dismisals. He did say Krasner was in the office during the purge, even though it was officially closed due to the weather.
Some of those let go, who asked not to be identified in discussing their termination, said they were told Friday morning to come to the office as soon as possible. When they arrived, they said, they were escorted by the office’s detectives as they learned their fate — often without explanation — and cleaned out their desks. Several left in tears.
“This was done in darkness,” said one dismissed veteran.
Andrew Notaristefano, a homicide prosecutor and District Attorney’s Office employee for more than a decade, said he had a homicide trial scheduled to start Monday — and that he’d met with the victim’s family Thursday night to prepare. He was at his desk working Friday when a human resources employee took him aside and told him he was fired, he said.
Notaristefano, who secured dozens of murder convictions during his career, said he was given “no explanation.” He requested to leave after prosecuting his upcoming trial but was told no, he said. His request to speak to Krasner was also denied, he said.