Pictured above are two extraordinarily courageous and remarkable women. Linda Schellenger, in grey, is the mother of a young man who was stabbed to death in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square. Maureen Faulkner, in black, is the widow of Philadelphia Police Officer Danny Faulkner who was brutally murdered in 1981 by leftist icon Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Both women are victims of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s progressive District Attorney, who was elected with a $1.7 million campaign contribution from George Soros.

The picture was taken earlier this week at Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents Philadelphia police officers, shortly after Maureen Faulkner and her lawyers announced the filing of a petition in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court seeking the removal of Krasner’s office from any further involvement in Jamal’s case which, after 37 years of litigation, is still on appeal.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has published my opinion pieces criticizing Krasner’s handling of both cases. While I have known Maureen Faulkner for years, I had never met Linda Schellenger until that day at the FOP. When I introduced myself to her, she began thanking me for what I had written about her son’s case and then started to cry. Being the hard-boiled former crime fighter that I am, I began crying, too.

Maureen’s petition and my conversation with Linda resulted in my writing another opinion piece about Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner. My friends at the Inky published it on line here, and it will appear in the print edition sometime next week.

Due to space limitations imposed by the print medium, the editors had to omit parts of what I had submitted. But my friends at Broad + Liberty (a terrific free online publication) are preparing to run my full submission with the omitted parts included. Set forth below is what I sent to Broad + Liberty.

As I have noted before, even though this deals with Philadelphia’s progressive district attorney, George Soros has been buying up prosecutors’ offices across the country. A similar version of the nightmare described below may be coming to your community courtesy of Soros and his billions.

Read and heed.

REMOVING DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER FROM THE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL CASE WOULD BE A STEP FORWARD FOR VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES

In 1981, Philadelphia Police Officer Danny Faulkner was brutally murdered by Mumia Abu Jamal. A multi racial jury convicted Jamal of first degree murder and sentenced him to death. Since then, he has pursued endless appeals in state and federal courts.  Although his death sentence was overturned on a technicality, his conviction has been repeatedly affirmed. Throughout this lengthy process, the Commonwealth has been zealously represented by three previous District Attorneys. But now the defense of Jamal’s conviction is in the hands of District Attorney Larry Krasner, the self-styled “public defender with power”, who during his short time in office has established an appalling record of undercharging violent criminals and astonishing indifference to the interests of crime victims.

Now, after 37 years of appeals, Jamal has filed a motion for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence of alleged misconduct by the trial prosecutor.  But Krasner’s office has never consulted the accused trial prosecutor concerning the allegations of misconduct. And, instead of contesting those accusations, Krasner’s office text messaged Maureen Faulkner, the murdered police officer’s long-suffering widow, that it was consenting to allow a hearing to proceed on these allegations. The abject failure to even consult the trial prosecutor and the unwarranted consent to a hearing on those allegations raise serious questions regarding Krasner’s intentions and his willingness to zealously oppose this latest move by Jamal to gain his freedom.

Accordingly, this week attorneys representing Maureen Faulkner petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to disqualify Krasner’s office from any further involvement in the Jamal case based on multiple conflicts of interest. The meticulous and carefully crafted petition is supported by damning exhibits that amply demonstrate why Krasner should be removed from the case. Among these exhibits is a detailed affidavit by the accused prosecutor refuting each and every claim of misconduct and stating under oath that he has never been contacted by Krasner’s office about these claims.

The petition also points out that the head of Krasner’s appellate unit, which is responsible for defending Jamal’s conviction, previously represented Jamal in the appeal of his conviction. In that regard, the petition avers that, when the head of Krasner’s appellate unit previously represented Jamal, he filed pleadings in the Supreme Court alleging that Jamal is innocent and that his conviction was the result of “fabricated evidence, subornation of perjury and a false confession.” In addition, the petition sets forth that Krasner himself has publicly described the former prosecutors who fought to uphold Jamal’s conviction as “war criminals.”

I attended the press conference at which Maureen Faulkner and her lawyer announced the filing of the petition. Sitting quietly in the audience was Linda  Schellenger whose son was stabbed to death in Rittenhouse Square. I later had an opportunity to talk with her. She is dignified, well-spoken, intelligent, highly credible and sincere. And while I thought I knew all of the relevant facts of how Krasner had aborted the case against Michael White, her son’s assailant, I was sadly mistaken.

Immediately after White’s arrest, based on the clear evidence that Linda’s son had died from a literal stab in the back, an assistant district attorney properly charged first degree murder. Subsequently, however, Krasner forced that assistant district attorney to resign and dropped the charge to third degree murder. Then, on the eve of trial, Krasner again reduced the charge to manslaughter.

According to Linda, when she met with Krasner to  respectfully question his handling of the case, he became angry and screamed at her. So what kind of person yells at a grieving mother for daring to ask questions about her dead son’s case? And what does this behavior tell us about Krasner’s commitment to pursuing the full measure of justice for crime victims and their loved ones?

Linda also repeated her nationally televised accusation that Krasner had suppressed evidence found on social media of the assailant declaring before the attack on her son that he “was going to kill someone” and afterward rapping about “blood in the streets.”  Krasner’s office never sought a ruling by the court as to whether these declarations could be presented to the jury. Instead, Krasner’s office hid this evidence.

As documented in the Philadelphia Inquirer and elsewhere, Krasner and his office have repeatedly and consistently demonstrated an indifference bordering on disdain for the rights and concerns of crime victims and their families. But now, thanks to the courage of Maureen Faulkner and Linda Schellenger, it is becoming apparent that Krasner has a pernicious agenda calculated to deprive crime victims, their loved ones, and the public at large of the full protection of the law to which they are entitled.

So it is that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court should consider Maureen Faulkner’s petition in the overall context of the disaster that has befallen the people of Philadelphia with the election of Larry Krasner. While she  seeks Krasner’s removal from her husband’s murder case, her petition serves the broader societal interest of seeking the Court’s help in placing limits on what Krasner seems to believe is his unbridled discretion to abrogate his obligation to zealously and fully enforce the law.

Hopefully the Court will remove Krasner from the Jamal case so that Pennsylvania’s Attorney General may take over and vigorously oppose the murderer’s latest bid to get out of prison. Maybe then, chastened by the Supreme Court and with the example of the Attorney General zealously defending Jamal’s conviction, Krasner will begin to realize that as a prosecutor he has a sacred duty to protect the public whom he purports to serve.

Author’s note: In the interest of full disclosure, I am close friends with Joseph McGill, my former colleague in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office who successfully prosecuted Jamal for the Faulkner murder. I know and admire and have provided legal services to Faulkner’s courageous widow, Maureen. Finally, many years ago, I agreed to represent an African American who had been in the emergency room where Jamal was brought for treatment within minutes of his shooting Faulkner. This bystander heard Jamal angrily shout, “Yeah, I shot the motherf***er, and I hope he dies!”