U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond Jr. requested a federal probe into Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and a supervisor over their handling of a murder case.
Yes, George Soros poured money into Krasner’s campaign to help elect him.
Diamond said the men might have obstructed justice and possibly committed other crimes:
“Finally, I have also found that Mr. Krasner and Stiegler worked together to try to convince the Four to urge the Court to accept a false narrative,” wrote Diamond. “This might amount to criminal conspiracy.”
The issue centers around Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit over a case regarding Dennis Johnson wanting to overturn his 2009 second-degree murder conviction.
Diamond disqualified and recommended a criminal investigation into Krasner and Matthew Stiegler, Chief of the DA’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit.
“I have thus reluctantly concluded that Philadelphia’s highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law,” added Diamond. “In these circumstances, with the issuance of this Memorandum, I refer the DAO [District Attorney’s Office], Mr. Krasner, and Stiegler to this District’s United States Attorney’s Office for investigation and other appropriate action.”
Disqualification means Krasner and Stiegler cannot work on the case.
Johnson has been seeking habeas relief since 2013. Habeas relief is “a legal procedure that allows people who have been detained by the government to challenge their detention in court.”
Diamond wrote (omitted citations):
On July 20, 2026, ADAs Ernst and Wildberger filed a Notice of Conflict, stating that the entire DAO had a conflict of interest in Johnson because the District Attorney received litigation advice from Stiegler, who—because he was more concerned with his professional reputation than Johnson’s merits—had a clear conflict of interest. [ADA Katherine] Ernst and [ADA Steven] Wildberger further explained that Stiegler’s advice to Mr. Krasner “suggested conduct they view[ed] as inappropriate for the person litigating the merits of this habeas case.” Ernst and Wildberger further urged that the DAO was conflicted because Mr. Krasner had ordered Ernst and Wildberger to “litigate the case in a manner to ‘protect the office,’” and that this was “incompatible with their ethical obligations and the interests of the Commonwealth.” On July 23, 2026, in a filing authored by [newly assigned ADA Thomas] Gaeta and Mr. Krasner, the DAO urged that the Four were conflicted because they would become fact witnesses once the July 17 hearing resumed. The July 23 filing also stated that any conflict with which the Four were burdened had been eliminated by Mr. Krasner’s hiring of Missouri attorney Jean Peters-Baker whom he had specifically hired as an ADA and assigned to Johnson.
“It appears that in attempting to impede the Court’s hearing and inquiry into the DAO’s conduct in Johnson, Mr. Krasner, aided by Stiegler, put the Law Division supervisors in an impossible situation that might jeopardize them professionally and may have violated the law,” wrote Diamond. “Mr. Krasner and Stiegler have thus created a basis for their disqualification from Johnson and their referral to the Department of Justice.”
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