Philly DA Larry Krasner’s office accused a judge and her staff of exhibiting bias in the courtroom and on social media

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office accused a judge who recently fined his office $120,000 of displaying improper bias and said she should reverse the penalty and recuse herself from the case — a request the judge quickly denied.

As Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie Coyle issued her ruling earlier this month, prosecutors said in a motion, she made statements that were “filled with emotion” and openly sympathetic to those who had challenged Krasner’s office — a combination that prosecutors say raised “an appearance of partiality.”

And they said additional prejudice was shown by Coyle’s law clerk, who they said had liked posts on social media expressing hope that Coyle’s ruling would help “evict this bastard Krasner” from office.

The motion, filed by Krasner’s office last week, was another unconventional development in a winding saga that has its roots in an open-records request filed five years ago by a former assistant district attorney. And it stood out as another demonstration of broader tensions that have existed for years between some players connected to the case.

On Thursday, Coyle denied the recusal motion for “lack of merit.” She did not elaborate.

Shortly before she issued the denial, Coyle responded to an email from The Inquirer about the motion by saying she was prohibited from commenting on it outside of court while still assigned to the case.

Krasner’s office said it would appeal Coyle’s decision on the recusal motion. It has already filed an appeal in Commonwealth Court challenging her earlier ruling.

Speaking from the bench in her City Hall courtroom on March 13, Coyle imposed the $120,000 fine and delivered a lengthy rebuke of Krasner’s office for what she said were a series of issues with its handling of a 2018 case in which prosecutors successfully lobbied to have a Philadelphia man cleared of murder charges and released from prison.

As Krasner’s office worked to secure the exoneration, Coyle said, it baselessly accused two former prosecutors of misconduct. She said Krasner’s office then went on to conduct a yearslong, bad-faith campaign to block one of those prosecutors, Beth McCaffery, from reviewing files related to the case as she sought to clear her name. And the judge criticized how the office handled and maintained its records.

In its recent motion, Krasner’s office said Coyle’s remarks that day “raise serious questions” about her impartiality.

As one example, prosecutors quoted her telling McCaffery, who was in the courtroom: “I know all too well what it feels like to be on the receiving end of unfair denigration and malignment of one’s character. It is extremely hurtful.”

Prosecutors say they believe Coyle was referring to past appellate court opinions that criticized her for exhibiting “animus” toward Krasner’s office. In that context, prosecutors said, Coyle’s remarks “would lead a reasonable observer to ask whether this Court again is acting out of ‘animus’ toward the current District Attorney’s administration, and if it was improperly influenced by the stinging public criticism it has received as a result of its prior conduct toward [the office].”

Prosecutors also said they believed Coyle was inclined to discredit testimony Krasner gave during the case because of her “personal relationship” with former prosecutor Ed Cameron. While Krasner was on the stand earlier this month, he was harshly critical of Cameron, a former homicide supervisor, accusing him of overseeing a “win-at-all-costs” culture in the office, and insinuating that he may have destroyed evidence as part of it.

In her ruling, Coyle defended Cameron, who died in 2020, as a gentleman and an “excellent prosecutor and excellent attorney.”

Krasner’s office said the judge was “overcome with emotion” as she did so, and said her remarks “give rise to a reasonable perception” that her personal view of Cameron influenced her decision to penalize Krasner’s office.

In addition to its concerns about the judge’s conduct, prosecutors said an account bearing the name of Coyle’s law clerk had liked or reposted several social media posts about the case that were critical of Krasner. One of the posts said it hoped Coyle’s decision would help “evict” Krasner from office as he seeks reelection this year. Another said in part: “I hope that disbarment and criminal charges are considered for Krasner.”

The motion does not identify the clerk, and it redacts the name of the account from screenshots included to support its case.

Coyle, in saying she was barred from commenting on the case, did not respond to questions about prosecutors’ contentions about her law clerk.

Krasner’s office said the social media posts it attributes to the law clerk “exacerbated” questions about the impartiality of the proceedings — particularly because they said the clerk had been called as a witness to testify about having reviewed the trial file at the heart of the open-records dispute.

“The matter remains before the Court, and the Court’s staff remain under an obligation to refrain from publicly endorsing such inflammatory remarks,” prosecutors wrote.

McCaffery’s attorney, Bryan Lentz, said in a statement Thursday that testimony in the case “was so bad for Krasner and his office that he has no choice but to adopt the tactics of Donald Trump and attacked the judge.”

Dustin Slaughter, a spokesperson for Krasner’s office, said its appeal of Coyle’s decision on the recusal motion would be added to its existing appeal on the larger issues in the case. It was not immediately clear how quickly any of the issues might be taken up by a higher court.