Presssure Mounts On Allegheny County District Attorney To Resign

PITTSBURGH, PA — Calls for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala to resign are intensifying after he instructed his office not to offer plea deals to a Black attorney who publicly called his office "systemically racist."

In a court hearing on May 13, Black attorney Milton Raiford not only accused Zappala's office of being racist, but said he isn't going for the "crazy plea agreements" offered by the district attorney's office.

In an email that surfaced this week, Zappala said he would take Raiford's request seriously and said no plea deals were to be offered to Raiford's clients.

Zappala's edict was immediately condemned by several well-known Allegheny County politicians. A few examples:

• "DA Stephen Zappala needs to resign or be removed immediately," tweeted state Rep. Emily Kinkead, who is white. "He just instructed his office to punish the clients of an attorney who criticized the criminal justice system as a whole (not just the DA's office) for being "systematically racist."

• "Stephen Zappala must be removed immediately," tweeted state Rep. Summer Lee, who is Black.

• "This is unacceptable behavior, consistent with the history of this district attorney’s office that fails to grapple with the systemic racism in our criminal legal system," state Rep. Jessica Benham, who is white, said in a statement. "DA Zappala should resign.”

Pittsburgh Democratic mayoral nominee Ed Gainey, who is Black, was more tempered in his remarks. But Gainey said in a statement, "I call on the District Attorney to reverse course on this reckless decision, apologize, and open his office to any investigation into this matter to preserve public confidence in the conduct of the office."

Current Mayor Bill Peduto also stopped short of calling for Zappala to step down. But he urged state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to speak out on the matter, and Shapiro promptly did.

“You shouldn’t be treated differently in our justice system based on who you are or who represents you in court," Shapiro said. "What has been publicly reported here is concerning; questions of professional conduct and ethical behavior are the responsibility of Pennsylvania’s Disciplinary Board.”