A federal judge has referred Philadelphia’s top prosecutor to the Justice Department for possible criminal charges.
U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond issued a 40-page memorandum Tuesday, September 15, referring Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Stiegler, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The referral stems from the office’s handling of a federal habeas corpus petition filed by Dennis Johnson, a man convicted of second-degree murder in 2009.
Johnson was convicted in connection with the August 17, 2007, shooting death of Kenyatta Smith outside a convenience store near 30th Street and Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. He has been fighting that conviction in federal court.
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The case took a significant turn in 2022, when the District Attorney’s Office filed a response stating that Johnson was entitled to habeas relief based on ineffective assistance of counsel. That filing was later found to contain errors and material misstatements.
As originally reported, Judge Diamond began holding evidentiary hearings in May 2026 to examine how that 2022 concession was prepared and to explore conflict of interest questions within the office. Several current and former prosecutors testified, including Katherine Ernst, Steven Wildberger, David Napiorski, and Jaclyn Mason, who had helped prepare the original concession and later resigned.
Four employees rejected a proposal they considered inappropriate and recommended the matter be sent to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, citing conflicts involving Stiegler, who had overseen the work.
Krasner pushed back. According to the memorandum, he opposed the referral to the attorney general and said the District Attorney’s Office needed to stay involved to “protect the office.” Prosecutors who testified said that directive itself created a conflict, because their duty was to the merits of the case, not to the office’s institutional standing.
The judge also found that Krasner and Stiegler tried to pin responsibility for the flawed concession on Mason, framing her as a rogue attorney acting on her own.
Diamond determined that the office had a conflict of interest but said he lacked authority to order a referral to the state attorney general himself. He disqualified Krasner and Stiegler from any further personal involvement in the Johnson matter, while allowing other attorneys from the office to continue participating. He described testimony about their conduct as “troubling” and “disturbing.”
“I have thus reluctantly concluded that Philadelphia’s highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law,” Diamond wrote. He added that Krasner “does not wish to give this Court a truthful account of how the Concession came to be even though his duty to the Court requires him to do so.”
The possible offenses identified in the referral include false statements, perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy.
