Lynne Abraham
{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Short description|American attorney (born 1941)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Lynne Abraham
| image = Lynne Abraham (cropped).jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|01|31}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| residence = Philadelphia
| office = 23rd District Attorney of Philadelphia
| term_end = January 4, 2010
| predecessor = Ronald D. Castille
| successor = R. Seth Williams
| party = Democratic
| spouse = Frank Ford (deceased)}}
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.
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/us-deadliest-prosecutors-death-penalty-five-attorneys-justice-system|title=America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences|date=June 30, 2016|accessdate=June 30, 2016|first=Ed|last=Pilkington|work=The Guardian UK}}{{Cite web|last=Newall|first=Chris Brennan and Mike|title=Philly cops are going all out to defeat DA Larry Krasner|url=https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/philadelphia-police-union-fop-da-larry-krasner-carlos-vega-20210511.html|access-date=May 11, 2021|website=Philadelphia Inquirer|date=May 11, 2021 |language=en}} She ran for Mayor of Philadelphia in the 2015 election,{{cite web|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/heardinthehall/Abraham-to-run-for-Mayor.html|title=Abraham to run for Mayor|last=Vargas|first=Claudia|date=September 17, 2014|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|accessdate=September 17, 2014}} but lost the Democratic primary.
Early life and education
Abraham was born in 1941 and raised in Philadelphia,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNJFAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Abraham,+Lynne+%22+1941|title = The American Bench|year = 1989| publisher=Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates |isbn = 9780931398193}} where she was educated in Philadelphia public schools. The daughter of first-generation Americans, she grew up on the margins of poverty. Her grandparents were a tailor and a butcher from Europe. She studied at Temple University for her undergraduate degree and received her Juris Doctor from Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Career
Abraham served as a legislative consultant for the city council of Philadelphia.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} 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 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.{{Cite news|url=http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/politics/lynne-abraham-applies-for-interim-da-in-philly-20170713.html|title=Lynne Abraham applies for interim DA job in Philly|last=Brennan|first=Chris|date=July 13, 2017|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=November 9, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=November 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109234607/http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/politics/lynne-abraham-applies-for-interim-da-in-philly-20170713.html|url-status=live}}
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.{{cite news |last1=Pilkington |first1=Ed |title=America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/us-deadliest-prosecutors-death-penalty-five-attorneys-justice-system |access-date=June 26, 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=June 30, 2016}} She earned the nicknames "Deadliest DA" and "Queen of Death" for the high rate at which her office, especially prosecutor Roger King,{{Cite news|url=https://www.inquirer.com/crime/a/roger-king-philadelphia-da-conviction-reversals-20211111.html|title=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.|last=Melamed|first=Samantha|date=November 11, 2021|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=February 4, 2023|language=en-US}} sought the death penalty in past decades.Betsey Piette, [http://www.workers.org/ww/2001/abraham0517.php "Why Philly D.A. Abraham is called 'Queen of Death'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615022610/http://www.workers.org/ww/2001/abraham0517.php |date=June 15, 2015 }}, in Workers' World, May 17, 2001Rosenberg, Tina "The Deadliest DA" in The New York Times, July 16, 1995
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.{{Cite book|last1=Dressler|first1=Joshua|last2=Garvey|first2=Stephen G.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1080075738|title=Criminal law: cases and materials|publisher=|year=2019|isbn=978-1-68328-822-0|edition=8|location=St. Paul, MN|pages=270|oclc=1080075738}}
=Post-District Attorney career=
In the 2004 presidential election, Abraham served as one of Pennsylvania's electors, casting her ballot for John Kerry.{{cite web|title=2004 Presidential Election|url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2004_certificates/|work=The United States Electoral College|publisher=United States National Archives|accessdate=February 28, 2009|archive-date=October 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009102840/https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2004_certificates/|url-status=live}} In the 2008 election, she cast her electoral ballot for Barack Obama.Philadelphia Daily News, Clout column, November 7, 2008: "Nutter, Abraham headed for college in Dec." Abraham retired in 2009, and was replaced by Seth Williams.
In 2015, Abraham ran for Mayor of Philadelphia in 2015 and finished third among six candidates in the Democratic primary. In 2017, Abraham applied to serve as interim district attorney following the resignation of Seth Williams, who had pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case. The Philadelphia NAACP publicly opposed her appointment.[https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/07/17/philadelphia-naacp-denounces-lynne-abraham/ Gregg, Cherri. "Philadelphia NAACP Seeking To Block Lynne Abraham's Interim DA Application", CBS Philly, July 17, 2017]
Abraham is co-founder of I-LEAD Charter School in Reading, Pennsylvania.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.{{Cite web|date=September 15, 2016|title=Founders|url=https://www.i-leadcharter.org/founders/|access-date=January 29, 2022|website=I-LEAD|language=en-US|archive-date=January 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129025252/https://www.i-leadcharter.org/founders/|url-status=live}}
Personal life
Abraham was married to Frank Ford until his death in March 2009.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://cse.google.com/cse?oe=utf8&ie=utf8&source=uds&start=0&cx=003474906032785030072:utbav7zeaky&hl=en&q=Lynne%20Abraham#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=%22Lynne%20Abraham%22&gsc.sort= Lynne Abraham records]
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{{succession box|before=Ron Castille |title=District Attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania| years=1991–2010|after=Seth Williams}}
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Category:Temple University Beasley School of Law alumni
Category:District attorneys of Philadelphia
Category:2004 United States presidential electors
Category:2008 United States presidential electors
Category:Pennsylvania Democrats