A convicted killer is now wanted for another murder after he was freed from prison by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s (D) Conviction Integrity Unit, which has the backing of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
In 2021, Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit got a judge to throw out the murder conviction against 32-year-old Jahmir Harris who served eight years in prison. Harris was convicted for the 2012 murder of 45-year-old Louis Porter whom he was accused of shooting in the head in front of his 5-year-old son in a Philadelphia parking lot just two days before Christmas.
SCOOP: Man convicted of 2012 Philadelphia murder & was set free from prison last year, 8yrs into sentence, 19th exoneration by @philadao Conviction Integrity Unit, now WANTED by @phillypolice for another murder last month. Breaking details at 5pm on FOX29 News @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/7wr9O3w8eZ
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) October 20, 2022
According to prosecutors, Harris murdered Porter over a $3,900 drug debt.
Last year, though, Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit — which Fetterman has called a “model” for the rest of Pennsylvania — helped get Harris’s conviction thrown out and he was subsequently freed from prison.
Now, Harris is wanted by Philadelphia police after allegedly shooting and killing 50-year-old Charles Gossett last month.
Fetterman, running against Republican Mehmet Oz for the state’s open United States Senate seat, has long praised Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit and has said the program should be implemented statewide to help free convicts from prison.
.@DA_LarryKrasner unwavering commitment to systemic criminal justice reform was resoundingly affirmed with a *true mandate.*
His efforts have literally saved the innocent from dying in prison.
His Conviction Integrity Unit model should be mandatory in all of PA’s 67 counties. https://t.co/kKWpYmS5cf
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) May 19, 2021
Another superb article by @samanthamelamed highlighting the crucial work of @DA_LarryKrasner
Horrific examples of prosecutorial misconduct reinforces the need for the Board of Pardons to serve as another judicial failsafe and why I’ll never stop pushing. https://t.co/9OUx5tTOJ1
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) January 8, 2020
In a statement, Oz spokeswoman Brittany Yanick said Fetterman is partially responsible for Harris’s prison release last year and thus the murder of Gossett.
“John Fetterman praised Larry Krasner and his Conviction Integrity Unit, saying this type of organization is needed in every county in Pennsylvania,” Yanick said. “Now, this group and John Fetterman are responsible for releasing a convicted murderer who is wanted in yet another tragic murder.”
“When will this senseless violence stop? The answer is never if John Fetterman gets his way,” Yanick continued. “He wants to release one-third of Pennsylvania’s inmate population, continue pardoning convicted murderers, and let violent criminals run our streets. That’s too extreme for the U.S. Senate and downright deadly for Pennsylvania.”
Fetterman’s campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment from Breitbart News.
This month, Fetterman suggested that the movie The Shawshank Redemption justifies releasing convicted murderers from prison.
As chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, Fetterman helped free a number of convicted murderers from prison and has suggested freeing a third — roughly 13,000 — of all inmates in the state’s prison system.
In 2019, Fetterman successfully helped free a convicted second-degree murderer who was known as “a son of the devil” and who had allegedly threatened witnesses in the case with murder if they testified against him.
That same year, Fetterman voted to free from prison a convicted murderer who killed a man with garden shears and sought to have a hitman murder his accomplice. In June 2021, Fetterman was the sole vote to free a convicted murderer who killed an 18-year-old boy for heroin money.
Fetterman, as Breitbart News reported, has overseen the release of 13 convicted murderers while heading the Board of Pardons. Also, one of Fetterman’s appointees to the board sought to end mandatory sentences of life without parole for first- and second-degree murderers.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
