The Pennsylvania Senate voted to indefinitely push back the impeachment trial of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on Jan. 11.
The trial, which was set to begin Jan. 18, has an uncertain future after the state’s Commonwealth Court ruled that the charges of “misbehavior in office” were insufficiently proven in December, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. In November, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives originally voted to impeach Krasner. The Republican-majority House voted — mostly along partisan lines — 107-85 to impeach Krasner, a Democrat.
Republicans blame Krasner’s progressive policies for record levels of violent crime, according to The Wall Street Journal. Pennsylvania state Rep. Craig Williams, chairman of the impeachment managers, said that the managers will likely appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Williams will likely highlight two instances where the impeachment articles claim prosecutors in Krasner’s office misrepresented information to a judge.
“We believe that is one of several instances that we have alleged is misbehavior in office, if not criminal conduct,” Williams told the WSJ.
However, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania released its majority opinion on Jan. 12, in which Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote that the articles of impeachment do not “viably allege that [Krasner] has acted in a manner that constitutes any ‘misbehavior in office,’” according to the Inquirer.
Krasner has continually denied any wrongdoing, and claimed that he is being targeted for his ideological beliefs, according to the Inquirer. After his impeachment, he wrote in a tweet that "Philadelphians' votes, and Philadelphia voters, should not be erased.”
“History will harshly judge this anti-democratic authoritarian effort to erase Philly's votes — votes by Black, brown, and broke people in Philadelphia,” Krasner wrote, adding that voters will “have the last word.”
Krasner was first elected as Philadelphia district attorney in 2017. At the time, he had no experience as a prosecutor. He was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2021 with the endorsement of both Penn Democrats and Penn Justice Democrats, which has since rebranded as Penn Young Democratic Socialists of America.
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