Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman referred the investigation of a young man on a charge of exchanging drugs to the State Attorney General office on the grounds that Stedman was politically associated with and a friend of the youngster’s prominent father.
By doing so, Stedman made sure that in no way he could be criticized for favoritism.
On the other hand, the youth lost all of the normal benefits of local precedents in such prosecutions and likely will be treated by the State Attorney General as an example, thus putting the accused at much greater jeopardy of aggressive prosecution on higher charges.
As is standard practice, Stedman could have recused himself from involvement with this relatively minor case and allowed an assistant to handle the matter. Instead his interests in retaining a ‘squeaky clean’ image was given priority above fairness to the accused.
To paraphrase Harry Truman, if Stedman can’t take the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.
