Entries tagged with “Larry Krasner”
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Mar 01, 2024
Death-Sentenced Philadelphia Prisoner Daniel Gwynn Exonerated After Nearly 30 Years
On February 27, 2024, Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott approved a motion from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to dismiss first-degree murder, arson, and aggravated assault charges against 54-year-old death-sentenced prisoner Daniel Gwynn. Mr. Gwynn is the 197th person exonerated after being sentenced to death since 1973, according to DPIC’s Innocence Database. “Today is mostly for us a day of tremendous relief and sadness, a guy like him, an innocent soul spent that…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Aug 16, 2021
NBC’s ‘Dateline’ Investigates the Wrongful Capital Conviction of Death-Row Exoneree Walter Ogrod
NBC’s true crime series, Dateline, featured an episode on August 13, 2021 on the wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration of former Philadelphia death-row prisoner Walter Ogrod (pictured). The episode, entitled “The Investigation,” is part of an NBC News series called “Justice for All” that reports on wrongful convictions and the U.S. criminal legal…
Facts & Research
Public Opinion
,May 20, 2021
In Election Seen as Referendum on Reform Prosecutors, Larry Krasner Renominated for Second Term as Philadelphia District Attorney
In a primary election widely considered a referendum on reform prosecutors, incumbent Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner easily secured a victory against former Philadelphia homicide prosecutor Carlos Vega. Krasner won the May 18, 2021 election on a platform of continuing the reform he began four years ago when he was first elected: eschewing use of the death penalty, initiating systemic criminal justice reforms, and ending mass incarceration.
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Feb 12, 2021
Former Pennsylvania Death Row Prisoner Christopher Williams Released From Prison After Being Cleared of Another Murder
Pennsylvania death-row exoneree Christopher Williams (pictured) was released from prison on February 9, 2021, after being exonerated in a second murder case. The second wrongful murder conviction had kept Williams incarcerated after he was cleared of the murder for which he was wrongfully condemned to…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Mar 06, 2020
Philadelphia D.A. Says Death-Row Prisoner Walter Ogrod is ‘Likely Innocent’
After a review of the case by its Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office has told a state trial court that death-row prisoner Walter Ogrod (pictured) is “likely innocent,” that newly discovered evidence showed that city prosecutors had violated his right to due process, and that his conviction and death sentence should be…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Representation
,New Voices
,Jul 18, 2019
Philadelphia District Attorney Asks Pennsylvania Supreme Court to Strike Down State’s Death Penalty
Citing race disparities, ineffective representation by court-appointed lawyers, and arbitrary case outcomes, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to strike down the state’s death penalty. In a brief filed on July 15, 2019 in the consolidated appeals of Philadelphia death-row prisoner Jermont Cox and Northumberland County’s Kevin Marinelli, the District…
Policy Issues
Costs
,Race
,Sentencing Data
,Nov 16, 2018
DPIC Analysis: The Decline of the Death Penalty in Philadelphia
During his election campaign, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner described the economic wastefulness of city prosecutors’ pursuit of the death penalty as “lighting money on fire.” A DPIC analysis of the outcomes of the more than 200 death sentences imposed in the city since 1978 (click here to enlarge image) and the last seven years of capital prosecution outcomes provides strong support for Krasner’s…
Facts & Research
Public Opinion
,Sentencing Data
,Jan 04, 2018
Pledging No Death Penalty, Larry Krasner Sworn In As Philadelphia’s District Attorney
Saying “[a] movement was sworn in today,” long-time civil-rights lawyer Larry Krasner (pictured) — who pledged to end Philadelphia’s use of the death penalty — took the oath of office on January 2 as district attorney in a county that only five years ago had the third largest death row of any county in the…
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Costs
,Race
,New Voices
,Nov 09, 2017
Anti-Death Penalty District Attorney Elected in Philadelphia, the Nation’s 3rd Largest Death Penalty County
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—the nation’s third largest death-penalty county—has elected as its new district attorney a candidate who ran on a platform of ending mass incarceration and eschewing use of the death penalty. Democrat Lawrence Krasner (pictured), a longtime civil rights lawyer and opponent of the death penalty, who once joked that he’d “spent a career becoming completely unelectable,” received 75% of the…
May 17, 2017
Reform Candidate Who Opposes Death Penalty Wins Democratic Nomination for Philadelphia District Attorney
In a repudiation of the city’s past history as one of the nation’s leading producers of death sentences, Philadelphia has joined the trend of major national jurisdictions to select reform candidates who have pledged to limit or eliminate use of the death penalty. On May 16, primary voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic city selected long-time civil rights lawyer Lawrence Krasner (pictured) as the Democratic nominee for District Attorney. Krasner, a defense…