Democrat DA in Philly--supported by George Soros--promised to go easy on criminals. Result?

Larry Krasner was formerly a civil-rights attorney in Philadelphia, one of the nation's most crime-wracked cities.  Last fall he ran for District Attorney, telling voters the criminal justice system was unfair to blacks and hispanics, and vowing that if elected he'd fix this

He proposed to do this by, among other things, "decriminalizing" a wide range of crimes.

For those readers unfamiliar with the carefully-crafted, deliberately misleading labels used by liberals, "decriminalizing" doesn't mean persuading the legislature to repeal obviously racially-biased laws against, oh, shoplifting, selling and using illegal drugs, pimping, prostitution and similar things.  Instead it means the DA makes it "policy" not to charge anyone with those crimes.

One of the immediate benefits of such a policy is that the amount of reported crime drops significantly.

Krasner also proposed eliminating cash bail.  Some of you might think this a good policy because it would keep violent felons from bailing out of jail while awaiting trial and using their freedom to intimidate witnesses.  But again, the term doesn't mean what you think.  Instead it means people charged with, say, car theft, or reckless driving with a suspended license and no tags, or DUI, would be released before trial as long as the pinky-swore to come back in for their trial.

Ah.

Well... Krasner won, in part because one of George Soros's myriad organizations gave his campaign half a million bucks a month before the election.  It's also worth noting here that Democrats outnumber Republicans in Philly 7 to 1.

So how's that choice working out for the citizens of Philly?  A recent shooting in Philly offers a glimpse of how things are going under civil-rights lawyer Krasner:  Last May a 50-year-old business owner was washing his car outside his business in the middle of the day, when 29-year-old Jovaun Patterson walked up to him with a loaded AK-47 and demanded his wallet.

The victim resisted, struggled with the much younger assailant and was shot in the hip, at point-blank range.  By an AK-47.

Demonstrating his love of fairness Krasner offered to drop an attempted murder charge against the shooter and instead let him plead guilty for a sentence of 3 1/2 years in prison.

The victim told the local paper he was stunned by the decision — in part because he wasn't contacted before it was made despite a Pennsylvania law guaranteeing victims the opportunity to comment on the sentencing of a defendant.  But of course as Krasner has so well demonstrated, in our nation today laws are merely suggestions.

When Krasner's office offered the deal, Krasner spokesperson Ben Waxman told the Inquirer that dropping the attempted murder charge was “appropriate” because video evidence showed the victim struggled with the shooter over the gun before he was shot.  For those unfamiliar with the law, this would imply that an assailant can't be charged with attempted murder if the victim resists--clearly an insane theory, but perfectly consistent with civil-rights thinking.

In a statement Friday the same Ben Waxman said the deal “was not reflective of our policy and how things should be done.”

Here's how the local paper reported the attempted murder:

On May 5, Mike Poeng was washing his car in front of his store at 54th and Spruce when he was approached by Jovaun Patterson. Brandishing an AK-47 rifle, Patterson announced: “This is a robbery. Go inside.”

But Poeng’s wife and children were in the store. Fearing that Patterson was going to murder him and his family, Poeng resisted using nothing more than his bare hands and pure guts.

His valiant efforts ended when, as caught on surveillance video, Patterson shot him and fled the scene.

Police rushed Poeng to the emergency room where he died and then was resuscitated by open-chest heart massage. The high-powered rifle round had severed his femoral artery, caused massive internal damage, and left a “fist-size” exit wound in his right buttock. 

 

Poeng spent about a month and a half in the hospital and now lies in bed at a relative’s home for much of his days. He can’t walk without assistance because of his injuries and is unable to work.

According to a West Philadelphia resident who spoke to police after the shooting, the night before the attack, Patterson took his AK-47 to a neighbor’s house where he said that “he was tired of [Poeng’s] mouth and something had to be done about him.” This declaration of intent, combined with the video evidence of Patterson shooting Poeng... amply justified the attempted-murder charge filed against the shooter.

Well, yes...until the virtue-signalling Krasner decided to plead it down to 3 1/2 years. 

As a famous emperor once said, elections have consequences.  Voters in hugely-Democrat-dominated Philly (7 to 1) voted for a DA who promised to refuse to charge criminals with crimes and to release those who were charged without the annoyance and expense of posting bail.  No doubt this idea will work, just as socialism will--if only the deplorable non-criminal citizens would quit complaining and give it a chance.