Copyright phillyvoice
With less than a week to go before Philadelphia's municipal elections, the race for district attorney has been charged by questions surrounding the kidnapping and murder of 23-year-old Kada Scott this month. Accused killer Keon King, 21, had been charged twice with domestic violence offenses against a different woman over the past year, but was free at the time of Scott's kidnapping because both of his prior cases were withdrawn by the DA's office, a misstep Larry Krasner regretfully acknowledged as he seeks a third term. MORE: Jake Tapper says new book on extremist brought to justice shows risk of Trump 'devaluing' experts "We could have done better," he said during an Oct. 20 news conference. The earlier cases against King were both withdrawn because the accuser, a woman he allegedly assaulted in December 2024 and a then again in January, and a witness failed to appear at multiple court hearings. When King was arrested in April for the second offense, a magistrate judge set his bail at $200,000 instead of the $1 million requested by the DA's office. Krasner's staff did not appeal the judge's bail decision, enabling King to walk free after posting the necessary $20,000 for his release. Former municipal court judge Pat Dugan, Krasner's opponent in next week's race, contends Scott would still be alive if the DA's office pressed for a higher bail and was better prepared to understand witnesses and victims in domestic violence cases. "Larry Krasner's attorneys really aren't trained on how to do these things," Dugan told PhillyVoice during an interview ahead of the election. Krasner declined to be interviewed about his bid for reelection. King is now charged with murder in the Scott case and is being held without bail. The charges in the earlier cases also have been refiled, but Dugan said the DA's handling of those offenses highlights a larger problem in the city. "Too many victims are just not being heard right now," Dugan said. 'Weak methods' Krasner said the domestic violence charges against King were withdrawn because the DA's office did not have any cooperating witnesses and the judge had ordered the case to proceed to trial. The prosecution would have had to rely heavily on video evidence recorded before the second alleged kidnapping in January, an approach that's "not usually an easy thing to do," he said. In the hours before the second assault occurred, police said the woman and another witness had taken videos of King waiting outside the woman's home and peering into her windows. King allegedly waited for the woman to leave and dragged her into his car by her hair. He allegedly assaulted her in the car before dropping her off about four miles from her home. Police also obtained body camera footage of officers' conversations with the woman and the witness after the assault. Dugan claims the DA's domestic violence unit lacks specially trained prosecutors and victim advocates who know how to build deeper trust with witnesses. He argued the video evidence should have been enough to move forward during the preliminary stages of the case and could have helped justify raising King's bail on an appeal. "It just doesn't make sense to me," Dugan said. "I would certainly give my (attorneys) some guidelines on what bail should be when it's a violent crime. You don't want to ask for excessive bail, but when you really have a defendant that you want the judge and magistrate to pay attention to, that's the one you want to be jumping up and down for. ... You've got to be authentic to the court." At his Oct. 20 news conference, Krasner said the failures in King's earlier cases are a reflection of the flawed cash bail system and the dilemma it creates for witnesses. Despite mailing out subpoenas to the accuser and a witness — and making multiple phone calls to gain their cooperation — the DA's office did not receive any replies. "(What) is the situation of a victim of domestic violence who has to go to court knowing that the defendant will walk out the same door she came in?" Krasner said. He also acknowledged the video evidence should have been used to pursue the case. "I would say with 20/20 hindsight, it's something that could have been done," he said. "And I own that. I mean, ultimately, the buck stops here." Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski, the veteran homicide prosecutor now handling the murder case against King, said at an earlier news conference that the prior cases against King were handled by a younger, less experienced prosecutor. Dugan said that's not a valid excuse. He argued junior prosecutors should be accompanied by more seasoned mentors — or kept on call — to step in when cases involve dangerous defendants and vulnerable witnesses. "A brand new attorney should know how to do this, especially if you trained them," Dugan said. "That was the vast majority of the cases over the years that I saw under Larry Krasner's regime. Very weak methods were used to bring witnesses in most of the cases." Will Scott case bring more voters to the polls? When Krasner beat Dugan in May's Democratic primary, Dugan earned 35.5% of the vote. The low-turnout election drew participation from just 17% of registered voters in the city, prompting Philadelphia's nonpartisan Committee of Seventy to sound the alarm over the lack of civic engagement. For Krasner's reelection in 2021 — when he defeated Republican Carlos Vega with 66.8% of the vote — just under 22% of registered Philadelphia voters cast ballots. Dugan, who spent 17 years as a municipal court judge before stepping down in December, said he's still a registered Democrat despite running against Krasner as a Republican in the general election. "This race was never about politics for me. This has always been about principle," Dugan said. "I loved being a judge, but I stepped down because I saw how ineffective Larry Krasner's office is and my perception was that he's doing it on purpose, not prosecuting violent criminals to the fullest extent." Krasner's second term saw dramatic reductions in homicides and other violent crimes, which had spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic in big cities across the country. Known for his progressive approach to criminal justice, Krasner has spent most of his reelection campaign focused on combatting the agenda of President Donald Trump. The DA has reiterated his defense of Philadelphia's sanctuary status for undocumented immigrants and vowed to stand up to any future deployment of National Guard troops for law enforcement in the city. Dugan said he hopes the Scott case will motivate voters to turn out on Tuesday and stand up for victims of crime in Philadelphia. He said his policies as a Republican are the same as those he campaigned for as a Democrat earlier this year. "Too many people are crazy on the left and too many people are crazy on the right. We need to move forward to the middle," Dugan said. "Larry Krasner has done a very good job of making this 'Krasner versus Trump.' He's the shiny object and Trump is the distraction. Donald Trump's policies have nothing to do with Larry Krasner enforcing the law here in the city of Philadelphia."
