Philly DA Krasner applauds high bail after family feud ends in gunfire

Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner praised a judge’s decision to order a seven-figure cash bail for the suspects in a weekend shooting in northeast Philly.

At his weekly briefing Monday, Krasner said that the $1.5 million dollars bail set for Eric Kling, who is accused of shooting of brother and another woman, is right where it should be.

“Why is that hard? We have been asking for the longest time for bails that were about a million bucks or more, why has it been hard to get a good amount of bail, a decent amount of bail for someone that shoots someone in the chest?” Krasner said.

The incident in northeast Philadelphia originated from an altercation between Kling and his brother. Krasner said the fight started Saturday night and ended early Sunday morning with the shooting.

Krasner has been an outspoken opponent of cash bail, but says there should be an exception for high cash bail in shooting cases like this weekend’s incident.

Two people were shot in the 5400 block of Walker Street, a 24 year old man who was taken to Jefferson-Torresdale hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest and stomach, and an unidentified woman who was taken to the same hospital with graze wounds to the chest and nose.

Krasner continued with his crusade for high bail in cases involving firearms and believes the courts are responding.

“The good news is we are seeing some bails that seem to correspond to reality. We have seen a total of $15 million bail for three people involved in a quintuple shooting, $3 million times five because there were five victims, and that is as it should be,” he said. “When people are shooting other people, conspiring to shoot other people. We need to have good bails because they present a danger to the community.”

The DA called it “gratifying” to see the high bail in this particular case.

Krasner was quick to point out there is a distinction between cash bail for lesser crimes and the high bail his prosecutors are seeking in shooting cases.

“You divorce money from the process of figuring out who stays in jail. You have a system of release or help, and the money is not involved.”

He pointed to Washington, D.C., where historically about 12% of defendants have been held and there’s no amount of bail that they can pay to get out.

The goal according to Krasner is that “we don’t end up with poor people being stuck in jail for things that people who have employment can pay bail to get out.”

Philadelphia has seen 350 homicides so far this year, compared to last year when there were 344 homicides at this time.