(NewsNation) — There have been 229 homicides in Philadelphia this year so far — 21 shy of last year’s total — not including nearly 1,000 others hurt in shootings. Now, the state legislature in Pennsylvania has had enough and might impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
“Lives have been lost, property (has) been destroyed, families have been crushed, enough is enough,” Rep. Josh Kail said during Thursday night’s edition of “On Balance with Leland Vittert.”
Kail is not only the state representative for Washington County, Pennsylvania. He’s leading the effort to impeach Krasner.
On the program, he explains that he other lawmakers are coming after Krasner for three main reasons: There is bipartisan support to do so, they hope to to garner more public information from victims who have suffered and because of what they consider the dereliction of duties by Krasner’s office.
“The laws that we passed in Harrisburg are not mere suggestions. A prosecutor’s role is to enforce the law and when you have a situation (with) Krasner, where his failure to do — his express and absolute hostile failure to do so — has quite literally cause people’s lives … and property to be destroyed, it’s to the point where we have to do something,” Krasner said.
A deeper look into the policies held under Philly’s current DA will show initiatives, from rejecting stop-and-frisk to alternatives to incarceration, that certain Philadelphia lawmakers feel has been a direct contributor to the city’s heightened crime.
In response, Krasner suggests his opponents have economic incentives, saying in a statement that there’s no legal basis whatsoever in their impeachment pursuits.
Kail, however, denies such allegations.
“I don’t have a state prison in my area. I think the DA has lost his mind. His response has been all over the place,” Kail says. “It’s not his role as a prosecutor to just refuse to enforce the law. It is the rule of the legislature to pass law — they’re not recommendations,” Kail said.