The family of slain Temple University police officer Chris Fitzgerald on Wednesday called for the firing of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for refusing to apply the death penalty to the man accused of killing Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald, a 31-year-old husband and father of five, said he saw teenagers dressed in black. Commit a carjacking On Saturday night on the edge of the Temple University campus, Myles Pfeffer, who was 18 at the time, shot Fitzgerald six times in the head, all of which was captured on Fitzgerald’s body camera.
Since then, they have been asking for Pfeffer to receive the death penalty, but learned Tuesday night that Krasner would refuse to do so.
“As a uniformed police officer for the city of Philadelphia … who took time away from his family to give back, and who made our family so proud, that someone like that was killed on the streets of Philadelphia and that the District Attorney has determined that this does not merit the death penalty … it is reprehensible that a judge and jury would consider the death penalty as a means of punishment for this crime,” Joel Fitzgerald, a Philadelphia native and five-time police chief and father of Christopher, told Fox News Digital.
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A photo of slain Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald with his father, Joel Fitzgerald Sr., a former police chief in Waterloo, Iowa. (Handouts)
Because of Joel Fitzgerald’s professional background, his family “knows and understands the legal system.”
“Imagine what’s happening to families across Philadelphia every day,” he said.
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Slain Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald was a 31-year-old husband and father of five children. (Handouts)
At the time, the district attorney’s office announced that Pfeffer was indicted in February 2023 on charges of murder, murder of a police officer, robbery, carjacking, possession of tools of crime and other related charges.
The suspect, now 19, allegedly shot and killed Fitzgerald and then took his gun. Authorities say he then fled the scene, killed a police officer and then committed a carjacking. U.S. Marshals and Bucks County Police Police arrested Pfeffer the next day in his hometown of Buckingham Township.
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Authorities say the swift arrest of two minors originally pursued by slain Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald led to the arrest of murder suspect Myles Pfeffer. (Philadelphia Police Department/U.S. Marshals)
The civil lawsuit filed by the Fitzgerald family against Pfeffer’s parents and his mother’s boyfriend alleges that Pfeffer’s mother picked him up in Philadelphia after the shooting and drove him to her home.
Joel said Fitzgerald’s family was concerned Krasner had “his own agenda” and might try to avoid a jury trial by making a plea deal with the defendant to third-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.
“We are very conscious of [Krasner’s] “It’s about the incompetence of the district attorney and his incompetence in not letting the people decide. He’s taken the decision out of the people’s hands. And if it can happen to us, it can happen to you,” Joel said, calling the district attorney “problematic.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (AP Photo/Matt Luke/File)
Dustin Slaughter, a spokesman for Krasner’s office, told Fox News Digital that Krasner “has remained faithful to his oath to seek justice and uphold the law” and “will not seek the death penalty in the case of Myles Pfeffer, who murdered Officer Fitzgerald.”
“This decision was made after lengthy and extensive input from Officer Fitzgerald’s family and experts. The members of the DAO committee that reviews potential death penalty cases include attorneys with hundreds of years of combined experience in murder and other criminal trials and appeals,” Slaughter said, referring to the committee Krasner set up to review potential death penalty cases.
Slaughter said the committee “considered every aspect of the case itself and all available information about the defendant before making a recommendation to District Attorney Krasner, who made the final decision.”
Pfeffer is facing multiple charges, including murder of a police officer. (US Marshals)
“The family’s input is deeply appreciated and was carefully considered by the Board and District Attorney Krasner before making this decision. The District Attorney will continue to support the family’s needs and will vigorously prosecute this horrific murder case,” Slaughter said.
Christopher’s widow, Marissa Fitzgerald, told Fox News Digital that “it’s important for the entire city of Philadelphia to know who Larry was.” [Krasner] We deal with heinous crimes like this.”
“He’s basically sending the message that it’s OK to brutally execute not just police officers but men with families – husbands, fathers, sons, brothers – and get away with it,” she said. “And he’s saying that he doesn’t care what we, the victims, want.”
Myles Pfeffer is accused of shooting and killing Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald in February 2023. (Handouts)
Marissa added that her family is already living a “nightmare” and that for Krasner to “drag them through this quagmire is deeply disturbing and disgusting. Philadelphians need to know what kind of District Attorney they have.”
Fitzgerald’s family is calling on residents to fire Krasner for his handling of Christopher’s case.
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The Temple University Police Association called Krasner a “disgrace” in a statement posted to Facebook on Wednesday.
Christopher Fitzgerald has been employed by Temple University Police since October 2021. (Temple University Police Association)
“Disgraced District Attorney Larry Krasner will not seek the death penalty in the murder of our hero, Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald,” the organization wrote. “This is utterly devastating news for the Fitzgerald family and police officers throughout Philadelphia.”
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Krasner has been a vocal opponent of the death penalty. Just days before the district attorney’s office filed charges against Pfeffer, Krasner issued a statement supporting Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s opposition to the death penalty.
The suspect, Miles Pfeffer, remains in custody. (FOX 29 News Law Enforcement Source)
“Governor Shapiro has consistently supported the death penalty as Attorney General, but today’s announcement that he opposes the death penalty marks a very welcome and encouraging change in his position,” Krasner said in a Feb. 16, 2023 statement.
In 2019, Krasner’s office found that 72 percent of death penalty sentences handed down in Philadelphia between 1978 and 2017 were “ultimately overturned,” the office said in a press release.
“Pennsylvania’s death penalty is applied overwhelmingly to Black and brown defendants, mentally ill defendants, and indigent defendants who cannot afford an attorney and are assigned court-appointed counsel. This does not meet the law’s requirements to apply the ultimate punishment to the worst criminals who commit the worst murders. Rather, it applies the ultimate punishment to the poorest and most disabled defendants,” the district attorney said at the time.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks in Philadelphia on Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Luke)
Jeanno Caldwell, a Fox News analyst and founder of the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety, where Joel Fitzgerald serves as director, released a statement Wednesday saying the Fitzgerald family is calling on “Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry to authorize newly appointed Special Counsel Michael Untermeyer to take over this case.”
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“Police unions, including Philadelphia Police Lodge 5, Temple University Police Association and the Pennsylvania State Police Union, have also condemned Krasner for not seeking the death penalty in this case. It is foolish to not give a judge and jury the option to even consider the death penalty in this heinous crime,” Caldwell said.
“Murder has increased every year since Krasner took office (compared to pre-pandemic figures, murders are up a staggering 57%),” said the Fox analyst, whose brother was shot and killed in Chicago in June 2022.
Caldwell said there has also been an increase in motor vehicle burglaries, armed robberies and thefts since 2020.
