A federal judge has removed Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and a top deputy from a murder case and referred both to federal prosecutors for possible perjury and obstruction, a rare judicial rebuke of one of the nation's most prominent progressive prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond issued a disqualification order and a 40-page memorandum accusing Krasner and Matthew Stiegler, chief of the DA's Conviction Integrity Unit, of potential criminal wrongdoing in their handling of a habeas corpus petition filed by Dennis Johnson, who was convicted of second-degree murder, robbery, and a firearms offense in 2009. The judge referred both men, and the DA's office itself, to the U.S. Attorney's Office for investigation, the Daily Caller reported.
Diamond's memorandum lays out a damning sequence: Stiegler allegedly decided the office would concede habeas relief for Johnson, effectively agreeing to overturn the murder conviction, without ever investigating the trial records. In 2022, the DA's office filed a response agreeing Johnson's conviction should be tossed, claiming that a key witness's identification of Johnson was merely hearsay. Trial transcripts, however, showed the witness had known Johnson for five to six years, making the hearsay characterization difficult to sustain.
When the case files were reviewed in 2026 in preparation for an evidentiary hearing, the alleged falsehoods began to surface. Diamond found that Stiegler's testimony during court hearings was "contradictory, evasive, or outright dishonest" and contained "material omissions and falsehoods" about how the office handled the flawed concession.
Rather than correct the record, Krasner and Stiegler allegedly shifted blame to former Assistant District Attorney Jaclyn Mason, who had been assigned to the Johnson case by Stiegler himself, after Stiegler had already determined the office would concede. Diamond concluded that the pair attempted to scapegoat Mason as a "rogue actor" who botched the case independently. Other supervisors within the DA's office testified on Mason's behalf, contradicting the leadership's account.
The judge wrote that Krasner appeared to have pressured staff to go along with the false narrative. AP News reported that Diamond found evidence Krasner threatened "consequences" for those who did not follow his orders, a finding that elevates the matter from prosecutorial misjudgment to potential criminal conspiracy.
In his memorandum, Diamond wrote plainly:
"I have thus reluctantly concluded that Philadelphia's highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law."
He also wrote that Krasner "sought to direct the very lawyers obligated by law to correct the Concession's errors to do just the opposite," and that Krasner and Stiegler "put the Law Division supervisors in an impossible situation that might jeopardize them professionally and may have violated the law."
Krasner disputed the ruling. "I respectfully and vigorously disagree with the decision," the DA said, according to AP News. His office did not respond to the Daily Caller's request for comment.
The disqualification removes Krasner and Stiegler personally from the Johnson case, but the DA's office itself was not disqualified, meaning other prosecutors in the office may still handle the matter going forward. The referral to the U.S. Attorney's Office, however, opens a separate track. Just The News reported that Diamond cited evidence Krasner may have attempted to persuade four prosecutors to urge the court to accept a false narrative, which the judge suggested could amount to criminal conspiracy.
Whether the U.S. Attorney's Office will act on the referral remains an open question. No public statement from federal prosecutors has confirmed receipt of the referral or announced any investigation.
The case is not the first time Krasner's office has drawn scrutiny for its handling of criminal cases. The Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively reported in April that Krasner's team had hidden criminal records of migrants receiving free legal aid, a separate controversy that raised its own questions about transparency and accountability within the office.
Krasner accepted $1.9 million in campaign funds from George Soros, making him one of the most prominent members of a wave of progressive prosecutors backed by the left-wing megadonor. National Review noted that Diamond's action represents a federal judge taking decisive steps against a Soros-backed prosecutor, a development that carries broader implications for the progressive-prosecution movement nationwide.
Philadelphia saw homicides spike to more than 550 in 2021 under Krasner's watch, according to the Daily Caller. His tenure has been defined by policies that critics describe as soft on crime, and the pattern of cases like the Johnson habeas petition, where the DA's office moved to overturn a murder conviction without properly reviewing the evidence, fits a broader concern about judges and prosecutors whose decisions put public safety at risk.
The Washington Examiner reported that President Trump and Republicans had previously accused Krasner's office of implementing soft-on-crime policies. Diamond's ruling now gives those criticisms a judicial foundation that goes beyond political rhetoric, a sitting federal judge concluded, on the record, that the DA and his deputy may have broken the law.
The case also fits a wider pattern of federal courts checking the conduct of progressive officials. Separate legal battles have played out across the country, from lawsuits filed by state attorneys general to disputes over federal law enforcement priorities that have tested the boundaries of prosecutorial discretion.
Diamond's memorandum runs 40 pages. It names names. It details alleged lies told under oath. It describes a DA who, when caught in a flawed legal concession that could have freed a convicted murderer, allegedly chose to cover up the mistake rather than fix it, and pressured subordinates to help.
The judge did not hold back, and the referral to federal prosecutors ensures the matter will not simply fade into a footnote. For Krasner, a DA who has built his career on the premise that the criminal justice system is too punitive, the accusation is especially pointed: the system's own safeguards caught him, and now he faces the kind of accountability he has spent years arguing others deserve.
Federal investigations have become an increasingly common tool for holding public officials to account, whether the subject is a federal bureau probing political figures or a district judge referring a sitting DA. The question now is whether the Justice Department will treat this referral with the seriousness Diamond's findings demand.
When the city's top prosecutor stands accused by a federal judge of lying, obstructing, and pressuring his own staff to deceive a court, Philadelphia's residents deserve more than a one-line disagreement. They deserve answers, and if the evidence holds, consequences.
