Lawmakers seek to highlight gun possession cases at hearing targeting Philly DA Larry Krasner

Gun possession cases in Philadelphia increasingly failed to reach convictions between 2015 and 2020, according to a study from a state sentencing commission — a finding state lawmakers sought to highlight Friday at a hearing targeting District Attorney Larry Krasner.

During lengthy and detailed testimony before the state House committee investigating Krasner for potential impeachment, Mark Bergstrom, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, said the gun possession study, released in June, showed in part that withdrawals and dismissals in Municipal Court had increased over time in Philadelphia — from 14% in 2017, the year before Krasner was sworn in, to 23% in 2019.

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Those proportions were higher than other counties across the state over the same timeframe, Bergstrom said. And though the finding generally echoed similar examinations of the issue in recent years, Bergstrom said he could not explain why the rate had trended upward in Philadelphia — and he also did not directly link the phenomenon to the city’s current record levels of gun violence.

“What is sort of remarkable is when [the withdrawal and dismissal rate] changes substantially, year over year, and the trend is in a certain direction,” Bergstrom said.

His testimony capped the second of two days of hearings in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard, the result of an ongoing impeachment effort being led by Republican legislators in Harrisburg. Many GOP members have criticized Krasner, a Democrat, for his reform-oriented policies and said they’ve contributed to the city’s shooting crisis.

Krasner has denied that and defended his office. And as Bergstrom was testifying Friday, a spokesperson for Krasner emailed reporters seeking to highlight a different portion of the 115-page gun possession study, which showed that the city in 2020 had the longest average prison sentence in the state for those convicted of the offense.

Firearms cases have been a frequent topic of debate amid the city’s violence spike. Officials including Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw have previously expressed concern over a dip in the crime’s conviction rate, particularly as police have been making such arrests in record numbers in recent years.

» READ MORE: From 2021: Philly’s top cop says she and DA Krasner ‘just don’t agree’ on how to reduce shootings

Krasner, however, has repeatedly said law enforcement should prioritize addressing shootings and homicides, as opposed to focusing on gun possession in a state where firearm sales have exploded in recent years. He has also criticized Republican lawmakers for failing to take action on gun safety proposals — including by opposing measures such as enhanced background checks, which could limit the ease of obtaining firearms in the first place.

Krasner was not invited to testify at either hearing this week. A crowd of supporters gathered outside and staged a “disenfranchisement circus,” protesting the notion that state lawmakers might try to unseat a district attorney who was overwhelmingly reelected by Philadelphians last year.

State Rep. John Lawrence, a Chester County Republican and chair of the committee, on Friday criticized the protesters for bringing musicians, a juggler, and fake circus animals to their event.

“This committee will not be drawn into the gutter,” he said.

Before Bergstrom’s testimony, committee members heard from Greg Rowe, executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association. The advocacy group lobbies on behalf of prosecutors and provides offices across the state with training and support.

Krasner withdrew his office’s membership in 2018, saying the association supported policies that were overly punitive and focused on incarceration.

Rowe sought to dispute that characterization, though he did not explicitly criticize Krasner or his office over its policies.

Committee members did not say what steps they might take after the hearing. Krasner has frequently criticized the committee and its work as illegal and politically motivated, and a petition he filed earlier this month in Commonwealth Court challenging its validity remains pending.