PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A federal judge said Thursday that criminal charges could result from the testimony offered in court by lawyers from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office about a 2009 murder conviction appeal, but did not suggest who would be entangled.
After rejecting a motion by the DA’s office to keep some testimony confidential, Judge Paul Diamond said “if what they say is true,” there could be a question of whether it amounts to criminal charges like perjury, subordinate perjury, criminal conspiracy, and obstruction of justice
A judge cannot file charges, but can issue an opinion on sanctions such as disbarment and suspension.
The appeal of the 2009 murder conviction was initially supported by the DA’s Office, but it reversed course after realizing a court filing was filled with mistakes and misstatements.
In June, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the state attorney general to review all cases in which the DAO sided with a defendant and agreed to overturn a conviction, due to the office’s handling of appeals.
Former Assistant District Attorney Jaclyn Mason testified last month that she was used by her boss Matt Steigler as a “scribe” and “pawn” to get the defendant out of prison, often meeting with defense lawyers and the Innocence Project.
Mason wrote a court document conceding relief for the defendant in 2022, and just this may after Diamond ordered an evidentiary hearing, she and others in the office realized that document contained several mistakes and misstatements, such as whether an eyewitness said he saw the face of the defendant during the killing.
Days later, Mason quit and in her letter of resignation, directed the blame at Stiegler. She also consulted other supervisors and lawyers in the office, including Katie Ernst, Steven Wildberger, and David Napiorski, among others.
Ernst, who still works in the office, told the court on Thursday that District Attorney Larry Krasner repeatedly rejected her advice, and the advice of others in the unit, to refer the case to the Attorney General’s office, pointing to what she described as an extensive conflict of interest.
She said Krasner repeatedly refused, got angry at times, and said he would never give the case to the AG’s office because he “hated them” and that the office was “full of Nazis.”
Wildberger echoed her statement during his testimony, adding that Krasner often called the AG’s office “Paraguay” — a reference to where Nazis fled after World War II.
Ernst and Wildberger said Krasner eventually suggested that if they didn’t do all they could to “protect the office,” there would be consequences, which they believed meant that they would be fired.
Ernst, Wildeberger and Napiorski all testified that Krasner suggested they dig through Mason’s other work on other cases and look for mistakes to put the onus on her.
However, all three also rejected Mason’ testimony last month that they were part of a “cover up” in the way the appeal of the 2009 murder conviction was handled.
Another hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday.
The District Attorney’s Office has not responded to a KYW Newsradio request for comment.
