According to the "Philadelphia Inquirer", "The exercise, unprecedented in scope in recent city history, is designed to help prosecutors flag officers with credibility issues early in a case and possibly prevent their testimony". On July 15, 2019, Krasner filed a motion in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to declare the state’s death penalty unconstitutional. Krasner cited the high turnover rates of convictions by appeals; racial disparity in those sentenced, who are disproportionately black and Hispanic; and the frequent ineffective counsel that has contributed to numerous cases being overturned, as among reasons that capital punishment as practiced in Pennsylvania violates the state constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Following the fatal shooting of Philadelphia police officer James O'Connor IV, Krasner faced criticism from federal prosecutor William McSwain and Philadelphia police union president John McNesby. McSwain, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, blamed the shooting on a prosecutorial discretion decision by Krasner's office to drop drug charges against the suspect in the killing, Hassan Elliott. While on probation for a gun possession charge, Elliott was arrested again on January 29, 2019, for cocaine possession and was released on his own recognizance. Nearly a week later on February 6, Elliott took part in the fatal shooting of Tyrone Tyree after a court date. The district attorney's office approved an arrest warrant for Elliott for the murder of Tyree on March 26 and dropped the cocaine charges the next day after Elliott failed to appear in court. On March 13, 2020, as part of a SWAT unit carrying out an arrest warrant, O'Connor was fatally shot, and Elliott would be charged with the shooting. Julie Roh, spokesperson for the district attorney's office, defended the decision to drop the drug charges against Elliott based on the homicide warrant being more serious. On the night of O'Connor's killing, members of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, the Philadelphia police union, formed a human chain at the Temple University Hospital entrance to prevent Krasner from entering.