Pa. House Republicans call for investigation into Krasner's withdrawal of Rep. Boyle arrest warrant

HARRISBURG - House Republicans in Pennsylvania called on the state's attorney general to investigate Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for withdrawing an arrest warrant for Rep. Kevin Boyle last month. 

Boyle, whose district represents northeastern parts of Philadelphia, was wanted by police in April for allegedly violating a protection from abuse order. Less than a week later, Krasner's office withdrew the arrest warrant after they said new information revealed that the order was no longer in effect when Boyle was alleged to have been in violation.

The decision to revoke Boyle's arrest warrant came a day before the Pennsylvania Primary Election, which he eventually lost to democratic challenger Sean Dougherty. In a letter to Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry, republicans said the district attorney's decision close to election day "raises serious questions." 

"The involvement by District Attorney Krasner and his office in the issuance and withdrawal of the arrest warrant issued for Rep. Boyle on the literal eve of a primary election in which he was a candidate for office raises serious questions," said Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster). "Given the known partisan and unprofessional manner in which DA Krasner has run his office, a state investigation into how this highly publicized matter was handled is well in order."

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Arrest warrant for Pennsylvania Rep. Kevin Boyle withdrawn

The Philadelphia District Attorney's office has withdrawn an arrest warrant for Pennsylvania State Rep. Kevin Boyle after they say new information came to light on Monday.

Krasner, a democrat, didn't absolve Boyle of any wrongdoing during a press conference to announce the decision to suspend the arrest warrant, but stated that "more complete" information helped guide them to an eventual resolution.

"I will say, separate and apart from that, this does not mean – one way or another – that Mr. Boyle committed no crime. That is a matter to be determined later," Krasner said in April. "But based on the information that we have today, which is more complete than the apparently accurate information that we had before, we do not find that there is probable cause to justify a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Boyle for violating a Protection from Abuse order on the dates in question."

Republicans questioned how "incorrect information" influenced the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to approve Boyle's arrest warrant without "conducting the proper due diligence when making the determination," and called it "astonishing" that the reversal took nearly a week. 

It's their belief that the "intense media and public scrutiny" of Boyle caused by "incorrect information" during and around election day may have influenced voters and lead to Boyle's loss in the 172nd District. 

"While Krasner has promised an internal investigation into what he calls "simply a gap in the information," internal action is insufficient to address such a series matter," House Republicans wrote. "When news outlets perform more due diligence than Larry Krasner and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, a thorough, outside investigation is necessary to determine how this happened and ensure it never happens again."

Krasner's office called the move by state republicans "merely another instance of political theater by enemies of democracy" and "bogus efforts at distraction." 

"The call from Pennsylvania House Republicans for an investigation is merely another instance of political theater by enemies of democracy. It's ironic that many of those pushing for this investigation were also involved in disputing the 2020 election, as reported by the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center. Representatives George Dunbar, Bryan Cutler, Martina White, Seth Grove, and Joshua Kail were among those who contested the election. Perhaps we should be investigating actual attempts to undermine the integrity of our democratic process and continuing attempts to silence Philadelphia voters instead. Regardless of these Republicans bogus efforts at distraction, we will continue to fight crime as they require us to fight stupid."

Boyle, 41, was previously arrested for the same offense back in Sept. 2021. His brother, Congressmen Brendan Boyle has said that was the same year Kevin started to exhibit signs of "very serious" mental illness. Brendan Boyle claims his brother made a full recovery, and exhibited "no symptoms" for the next two years, but those mental health struggles have since returned. 

"In recent weeks, his mental health has even further deteriorated. It’s been painful to watch an intelligent, accomplished person with a big heart decline in such a precipitous way," Congressman Boyle wrote.