Lynne Abraham

Lynne Marsha Abraham (born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney who served as the district attorney of the City of Philadelphia from May 1991 to January 2010. She was the first woman to serve as Philadelphia's district attorney. Abraham won election to that position four times.

Lynne Abraham
23rd District Attorney of Philadelphia
In office
May 15, 1991[1] – January 4, 2010
Preceded byRonald D. Castille
Succeeded byR. Seth Williams
Personal details
Born (1941-01-31) January 31, 1941
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseFrank Ford (deceased)
ResidencePhiladelphia

Abraham is sometimes regarded as having been among the United States' "deadliest" prosecutors because she sought and obtained the death penalty more frequently than most district attorneys.[2][3] She ran for Mayor of Philadelphia in the 2015 election,[4] but lost the Democratic primary.

Early life

Lynne Abraham was born in 1941 and raised in Philadelphia[5] and educated in its public schools. The daughter of first-generation Americans, she grew up on the margins of poverty. Her grandparents were immigrants — a tailor and a butcher — from Europe. She studied at Temple University for her undergraduate degree and also received her Juris Doctor from Temple University Beasley School of Law. She was married to Frank Ford until his death in March 2009.

Career

Abraham is a former assistant district attorney. She served as a legislative consultant for the city council of Philadelphia. She served as the head of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority during the administration of Mayor Frank Rizzo. She was elected Judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court in 1977, then was elected to the Court of Common Pleas in 1980, where she presided over criminal trials until she became district attorney in 1991.

District Attorney

Abraham was elected by her fellow Philadelphia judges to take over as District Attorney in 1991 when then-District Attorney Ronald D. Castille, later Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, stepped down from the District Attorney post in order to run for mayor. The Board of Judges elected Abraham by a thin 39-37 margin.[6]

As an incumbent, Abraham was elected to a four-year term in 1993. She was re-elected three more times; in 1997 (defeating challengers Jack McMahon and Leon Williams), 2001 (defeating challengers Alexander Talmadge and Leon Williams) and 2005 (defeating challenger Seth Williams, who would succeed her as District Attorney five years later).

Abraham held the office of district attorney longer than anyone else in Philadelphia history, during which time she saw 108 capital sentences returned.[7] She earned the nicknames "Deadliest DA" and "Queen of Death" for the high rate at which her office, especially prosecutor Roger King,[8] sought the death penalty in past decades.[9][10]

In 2007, Abraham charged William J. Barnes for the murder of a police officer, whom Barnes shot forty-one years earlier during a failed burglary. The officer survived, but died in 2007 from a urinary tract infection. Barnes had served twenty years for the incident, but Abraham believed she could prove causation between Barnes' shot and the urinary tract infection. Despite Barnes having reformed his life, he was incarcerated until he was acquitted of the homicide in 2010.[11]

In the 2004 presidential election, Abraham served as one of Pennsylvania's electors, casting her ballot for John Kerry.[12] In the 2008 election, she cast her electoral ballot for Barack Obama.[13] Abraham retired in 2009, and was replaced by Seth Williams.[6]

Later life

Abraham ran for Mayor of Philadelphia in 2015 and finished third among six candidates in the Democratic primary.[6] Abraham applied in 2017 to serve as interim district attorney following the resignation of Seth Williams, who had pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case.[6] The Philadelphia NAACP publicly opposed any such appointment.[14]

Abraham is co-founder of I-LEAD Charter School in Reading, Pennsylvania.[15][16]

References
  1. "At Her Swearing-In, Abraham Vows Community-Outreach Work". The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 16, 1991. Retrieved November 6, 2009.
  2. Pilkington, Ed (June 30, 2016). "America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences". The Guardian UK. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  3. Newall, Chris Brennan and Mike (May 11, 2021). "Philly cops are going all out to defeat DA Larry Krasner". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  4. Vargas, Claudia (September 17, 2014). "Abraham to run for Mayor". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  5. The American Bench. Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates. 1989. ISBN 9780931398193.
  6. Brennan, Chris (July 13, 2017). "Lynne Abraham applies for interim DA job in Philly". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  7. Pilkington, Ed (June 30, 2016). "America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences". The Guardian. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  8. Melamed, Samantha (November 11, 2021). "King of Death Row: Homicide prosecutor Roger King put more people on Pennsylvania's death row than anyone else. Now, findings of misconduct taint his record". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  9. Betsey Piette, "Why Philly D.A. Abraham is called 'Queen of Death'" Archived June 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, in Workers' World, May 17, 2001
  10. Rosenberg, Tina "The Deadliest DA" in The New York Times, July 16, 1995
  11. Dressler, Joshua; Garvey, Stephen G. (2019). Criminal law: cases and materials (8 ed.). St. Paul, MN. p. 270. ISBN 978-1-68328-822-0. OCLC 1080075738.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. "2004 Presidential Election". The United States Electoral College. United States National Archives. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
  13. Philadelphia Daily News, Clout column, November 7, 2008: "Nutter, Abraham headed for college in Dec."
  14. Gregg, Cherri. "Philadelphia NAACP Seeking To Block Lynne Abraham's Interim DA Application", CBS Philly, July 17, 2017
  15. and Mark Fazlollah INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS, Allison Steele. "Targeted officer plans charter Thomas Tolstoy, under FBI corruption investigation since '09, would help teach students law enforcement.." Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA), September 24, 2012: B01. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current.
  16. "Founders". I-LEAD. September 15, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
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