Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner speaking on everything from being on the phone call with alleged shooter Maurice Hill last night to what charges he could face and his correct criminal history @6abc pic.twitter.com/dg8x3LDMZc
— Annie McCormick (@6abcAnnie) August 15, 2019
Via Inquirer:
While Maurice Hill was holed up in a North Philadelphia rowhouse Wednesday night with an AR-15 rifle, he got on the phone with District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Six police officers had already been shot and wounded, and two more were trapped inside the Tioga house, along with three handcuffed prisoners. Krasner hoped to persuade Hill to surrender; the suspected gunman wanted to know what kind of prison term he might face.
“Early on, I said 25 [years], then he said 20 and I said OK,” Krasner recounted Friday. At one point, Hill insisted on a deal in writing. Krasner started writing a draft, but did not finish it.
The conversation occurred four hours after the standoff began, as officers were still being treated at hospitals, and nearly four hours before it ended with Hill’s surrender and no more bloodshed. In an interview Friday, Krasner described his offer as a “phony baloney” agreement that he had no intention of honoring — and said Hill’s lawyer was in on the ruse.
“We need to be clear here: This was bullshit from the beginning,” Krasner told The Inquirer.
But the revelation that Philadelphia’s top prosecutor was discussing plea deals with an active gunman and his lawyer adds another twist to the mass shooting that drew a national spotlight to the city. The fake offer itself would have been unusually lenient — a Delaware County man got nearly 50 years in prison for wounding just a single officer in a 2016 West Philadelphia shooting. And some questioned the tactic; others wondered whether it could create unforeseen issues as the case proceeds — including turning the district attorney into a witness.