Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner faces an impeachment vote Wednesday over the way his office prosecutes violent crime, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted along party lines to impeach Krasner, a Democrat whose progressive policies are being blamed for record levels of violent crime in the city. A floor vote on the move is expected to take place Wednesday and, if approved, Krasner would face an impeachment trial in the GOP-led state Senate, where two-thirds of lawmakers would have to support the DA's removal.
"He has misbehaved in office, and he has been derelict in his duties," Pennsylvania State Rep. Martina White, the prime sponsor of the impeachment articles who voted to impeach Krasner, said Wednesday. "And we are seeing the ramifications of that with the crisis of crime that Philadelphia is facing right now."
"He has been documented as lying to the courts, including a Supreme Court justice that his aides misled," she continued. "He's been accused of misleading a grand jury and violating the civil rights of a police officer. He has disregarded victims of crime as it pertains to sentencing matters, and so these are just a few of the items that will be presented today to the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania."
The impeachment proposals claim Krasner obstructed the House's work by not complying sufficiently with a subpoena from the legislative committee investigating him.
Homicides in Philadelphia hit a record 562 last year.
State Rep. Mike Zabel, a Democrat, said the impeachment effort was a "weaponization of our state's Constitution for political purposes."
"Today's resolution threatens to set a terrible, terrible precedent that could set Pennsylvania down a very dark and dangerous path — impeachment of a local official because a legislative majority doesn't like that official's policies," he added.
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