During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) questioned witnesses about Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
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00:00 of the Subcommittee on Crime of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Biggs.
00:05 >> [INAUDIBLE]
00:08 >> You both.
00:11 >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:12 Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today for your poignant testimony and
00:18 we appreciate you coming out and testifying.
00:21 And I'm just going to go with some of the questions,
00:28 with some questions that came to my mind as I was listening to your testimony.
00:31 And I want to just make this statement here.
00:37 The health inspector analogy really doesn't work well for you.
00:39 Because if the health inspector goes in and finds a lot of violations,
00:47 and then turns around and walks out, guess what you have?
00:51 You got more food poisonings, more illness that comes.
00:56 And that seems to be what's happening here.
00:58 So I'll talk with you, Dr. Fitzgerald, first.
01:01 Is that what's happening here?
01:02 Are we seeing, if you analogize that,
01:07 if Larry Krasner is analogized to the health inspector, is he letting people go?
01:13 Is he letting these violations go, which is resulting in more problems for
01:18 the city, more crime in the city?
01:21 >> In my belief, that's a correct assessment.
01:23 When a district attorney fires tenured attorneys in his office,
01:28 which is their prerogative, he's an elected district attorney, he can hire and
01:31 fire whoever he'd like.
01:33 However, he lost intellectual capital within the district attorney's office and
01:37 the ability to therefore put the best cases together and
01:41 prosecute offenders that deserve prosecution.
01:44 Rookie district attorneys are now plea bargaining cases down, and
01:49 that's affecting everyone in Philadelphia.
01:52 So yes, it is analogous to a pest inspector who fails to perform their duties and
01:58 allows, in essence, the city to be infested.
02:01 >> Thank you.
02:04 Mr. Bechetto, when we talk about the criminal justice system,
02:11 there are reasons that you prosecute individuals.
02:14 They include specific deterrence, general deterrence, restitution,
02:20 the society's need for retribution and justice.
02:23 The policies that you wanted to talk about with regard to Larry Krasner,
02:29 please tell us, do they further specific deterrence
02:34 when he is letting people out on cashless bail?
02:36 >> Quite the opposite.
02:39 Larry Krasner's policies have literally been
02:47 a license to commit further crimes,
02:53 further lawlessness, and further terrorize the citizens of Philadelphia.
02:59 I couldn't help but note that your question about the health examiner
03:04 walking into a restaurant and not prosecuting or
03:08 enforcing a regulation that concerns the safety of its patrons.
03:13 It's exactly what's going on with Larry Krasner.
03:17 How do you let people walk into stores, steal hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise,
03:24 oftentimes from a single owner bodega or that type of thing.
03:28 How do you let them walk in, steal things, and walk out scot-free?
03:34 It's lawlessness, it's craziness, and
03:37 it is emboldening these criminals to be more and more violent and
03:43 more and more aggressive against our citizenry.
03:47 And I want to say, hopefully, help is on the way.
03:53 We have a new mayor in Philadelphia, her name is Sherelle Parker.
03:56 She's extremely capable and street smart.
04:00 And she's avowed not to put up with this kind of craziness.
04:06 The problem is that she cannot control what Larry Krasner prosecutes or
04:13 fails to prosecute.
04:15 And unfortunately, no matter how much a mayor wants to pitch in,
04:22 to the extent that we have a district attorney who issues memos to his line DAs.
04:30 You will not prosecute this crime.
04:32 We have it in writing, there are memos.
04:36 It's an outrage.
04:37 >> So Mrs. and Dr. Fitzgerald, whoever wants to take this question,
04:44 there are standards that govern the death penalty cases in Pennsylvania.
04:52 And you present those, if you file your petition requesting a death penalty,
04:59 you present those aggravating factors to a jury.
05:02 They're the ones that make the determination on death penalty.
05:06 What has been the process that you've engaged in
05:10 with regard to the death penalty application?
05:15 And what is Mr. Krasner and his team,
05:18 how have they responded to your efforts and the process you've gone through?
05:24 >> So in this process, sir, and thank you for the question.
05:27 The office, after our petitioning the office to
05:34 discuss with us what their intent was to pursue either the death penalty or
05:40 not to in our son's case, they invited us in to make our own case, basically.
05:47 We- >> Is that normal?
05:48 >> No, that's not normal.
05:51 The first question that we asked the committee, that he
05:54 considered the death penalty review committee, which is used by many other
05:59 district attorneys across the, not only this commonwealth, but across the country.
06:04 Having come from Philadelphia, been born and raised here,
06:09 come up through the city of Philadelphia Police Department,
06:11 we are aware that he has not used this process before.
06:14 He has summarily dismissed the fact that he wanted to, or
06:19 that he would ever pursue the death penalty.
06:21 But in our case, we were afforded the opportunity, if you would put it that way,
06:26 to present before this committee.
06:29 We did so.
06:30 We presented our own aggravators.
06:34 We even attacked with the potential mitigators.
06:37 Thankfully, my wife has worked homicides for years,
06:40 both, I mean, just in the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office.
06:44 She was a homicide investigator there.
06:45 And being a chief of police and investigator, we were able to detach
06:51 ourselves somewhat, if you will, from what happened with our son.
06:55 But no family should ever have to lobby.
06:58 No family should have to make it, or
07:02 made to be felt as if we didn't do a good enough job before this committee,
07:07 we wouldn't get justice.
07:09 It's ridiculous.
07:11 And I would submit again that one of the biggest
07:15 impediments to criminal justice can be district attorneys.
07:19 I spoke with Mr. Jordan earlier, and I talked about the preamble you had
07:24 in your last report, and it talked about attorneys.
07:28 >> [INAUDIBLE]
07:29 >> It talked about attorneys being able to go after people and to get them.
07:34 But they have that same ability to totally dismiss what the public wants and
07:40 just go after what they want.
07:42 And in this case, the clear want is to do away with the death penalty and
07:47 to ensure that our son doesn't get justice.
07:49 >> Mr. Chairman, I have several unanimous consents, if I can present.
07:53 >> Gentlemen.
07:54 >> Yes, I present the certified copy of the fiscal year 2021,
08:00 where the $33 million was removed from the police.
08:05 >> Without objection.
08:06 >> And then I have an article entitled, Remembering Philadelphia Police Sergeant
08:11 James O'Connor, killed in the line of duty one year ago from Saturday, March 13, 2021.
08:17 >> Without objection.
08:18 >> And also an article entitled, Make Sure Justices Serve,
08:21 Slain Temple Police Sergeant's Family Calls for Death Penalty for Suspect, dated January 23, 2024.
08:27 >> Without objection.
08:28 >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
08:29 >> Thank you.
08:29 Chair recognizes the ranking member for five minutes.