New Philadelphia DA Fires Dozens Of Assistant District Attorneys
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's new district attorney Larry Krasner is clearing house.
Krasner fired dozens of assistant district attorneys on Friday.
"DA Larry Krasner has long-promised to bring culture change to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. This includes a broad reorganization of the structure of the DAO. As part of that process, 31 DAO employees were asked to resign from their positions today, effective immediately," the DA's office said in a statement.
Veteran assistant district attorney's packed up boxes and loaded them into waiting vehicles outside the office. They declined to comment on the record but confirmed that they'd been called into the closed office and told they were being fired, with no explanation.
Ever since the November election, they've been predicting a massive purge of the office by Krasner, who tangled with the office as a defense attorney and civil rights lawyer and who had described the office during the campaign as "off the rails."
As a candidate, Krasner promised change and reform for an office shuddered by the corruption conviction of his predecessor Seth Williams.
Krasner's legal history includes 75 lawsuits against police and government agencies.
The DA's office said in a statement that "reorganization and change in some key personnel" was necessary to take the office in a different direction.
"There are nearly 600 people who work at the DAO. DA Krasner has confidence in the ability of our employees to adapt to these changes. That includes appropriately handling cases or other matters that are scheduled for the coming weeks," the statement reads.
There is no word on the plan to prosecute upcoming cases.
These layoffs come just four days after Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner was sworn into office.
