Larry Krasner asked that U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond be removed from the case after Diamond suggested Krasner may have committed crimes. Krasner filed the documents in federal court on Wednesday and said Diamond should no longer oversee the post-conviction matter.
Krasner said Diamond’s suggestion that he committed crimes “rests on nothing of substance.” In a separate nine-page letter, Krasner wrote that Diamond’s “factual findings and accusatory legal conclusions twist the truth to the point of breaking in ways that defy logic and employ Orwellian language.”
Wednesday and Paul S Diamond
Krasner and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Gaeta also said Diamond had gone so far out of line that he should be removed from the case. They described the proceedings as a “circus” and called Diamond the “ringmaster.”
That filing came after Diamond filed a memorandum in mid-September saying Krasner and Matthew Stiegler may have committed crimes including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, or perjury. Diamond also referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for potential investigation.
Matthew Stiegler and the filings
Krasner’s brief pushed back on the premise behind Diamond’s allegations. He said Diamond’s conclusions were “baseless,” illogical, and legally unsupported, and argued that the judge had acted more like “an advocate against DA Krasner” than an impartial arbiter.
Krasner and Gaeta said Diamond had shown bias by asking improper questions of witnesses, reaching inconsistent conclusions about witness credibility, and improperly blaming and discrediting Krasner for not testifying. Krasner also wrote that Diamond’s claim about possible criminal conspiracy relied on allegations “more closely resembling fever-dream conspiracy theories than evidence.”
U.S. District Court case
The dispute centers on a post-conviction matter in the U.S. District Court overseen by Diamond. Diamond previously disqualified Krasner and Matthew Stiegler from participating in the case moving forward, and Krasner has appealed that ruling.
The filings put the recusal question squarely before the court: whether the same judge who raised possible criminal conduct can keep handling the case. Diamond was appointed by President George W. Bush.
