Board Of Judges To Select Interim DA
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Board of Judges for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas will choose the Interim DA on Thursday. The candidates gave presentations Wednesday night, but one withdrew their application.
One by one, candidates for Interim DA were escorted from Room 654 in City Hall to Room 643, where they had five minutes or less to make a pitch on why the approximately 71 judges in attendance should give them the job.
One of the candidates actually pitched why someone else should get it.
"I withdrew my application for Interim DA," says Kathleen Martin, first assistant district attorney for Philadelphia.
She's been running the DA's office since Seth Williams has been under fire. She says she's stepping aside to prevent further disruption to the office and is throwing her support around fellow prosecutor John Delaney, who's worked at the DA's office for 35 years.
"His reputation as a prosecutor is impeccable," says Martin. "I think it's in the best interest of the office to have someone from inside the office."
Currently, 13 applicants for the position remain, including longtime DA Lynne Abraham, who has been opposed by the Philadelphia NAACP, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, and Black Lives Matter.
Joe Khan, a former prosecutor who lost the Democratic DA primary, is also still in the running.
"What's before us right now is an opportunity to serve the city," says Khan, who came in second behind Larry Krasner in the primary.
As as with the other candidates who presented, he got audible applause from the judges after completing his pitch. He says if he gets the gig he will not run for DA as an independent.
"My political campaign is over," he says, "I gave Larry Krasner my full support."
President Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper says the 88-member Board of Judges will vote at 4pm.
The judges will select a candidate via ballot, if no one gets a majority of those in attendance, they'll do a second round with the top three candidates; whoever gets a majority gets the job.
"Once the vote is cast and the winner is determined, I will make an announcement," says Woods-Skipper.
Woods-Skipper says the Interim DA could be in place as early as Friday.
