Soros-Backed DA Cut Plea Deals With Violent Criminals Represented by Campaign Donors

Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner cut favorable plea deals with violent criminals represented by the progressive's campaign donors, city financial records show.

Krasner took office in January 2018 after mounting an unconventional campaign that centered on his history of suing police officers as a civil rights attorney. Just five months later, he reached a plea agreement with two career criminals who murdered a Philadelphia cop, allowing them to avoid the death penalty. Defense attorneys Michael Coard and Daniel Stevenson oversaw the deal after donating a combined $2,700 to Krasner's 2017 campaign. Coard—who has called police departments "modern versions of colonial-era slave patrols"—also served on Krasner's transition team and vocally supported the progressive in 2017. 

Months later, Krasner reached another controversial plea deal with a career criminal who shot a Philadelphia deli owner with an AK-47 during an armed robbery. Krasner campaign donor Philip Steinberg represented the shooter, who received as little as three-and-a-half years in prison for aggravated assault, a step below the attempted murder charge the DA's office initially pursued. Krasner's office also failed to inform the victim of the shooter's plea hearing, a violation of state law.