Judge drops charges in murder case against former Philadelphia police officer Ryan Pownall
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia judge threw out all charges in the murder case against former police officer Ryan Pownall on Tuesday afternoon. The judge tossed all three criminal charges, including murder.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office says it "strongly disagrees on many levels with the court's decision today in this matter and will be reviewing our options in the coming days."
President of the FOP Lodge 5 John McNesby also released a statement following the ruling.
From the beginning, we called the filing of criminal charges against officer, Ryan Pownall an absolute disgrace. Pownall is entitled to due-process and presumed innocent. And today, a Philadelphia judge agreed and dropped all criminal charges against this officer. We promised a vigorous defense against all the charges and happy to see that all criminal charges were dismissed and we now begin the work to get Ryan Pownall re-instated to his job, protecting our great city.
Pownall was a 12-year-veteran of the police force and a decorated veteran committed to serving his community and providing for his supportive family.
This case illustrates DA Larry Krasner's anti-police agenda with the filing of meritless criminal charges, all to be dismissed at a later date.
Pownall had been charged in a deadly confrontation with 30-year-old David Jones back in June 2017.