QUOTE: "I've looked at all
those sentenced to be executed. No one will shed a tear. Prison is too good for
them. They don't deserve to live. I represent the victim and the family. I
don't care about killers. All of our cases now are multiple gunshot executions,
houses set on fire and six children burned to death. This is Bosnia."
AUTHOR: Lynne Abraham (born 1941) 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. As District Attorney, she oversaw the largest district attorney's office
in Pennsylvania. The office prosecutes approximately 75,000 cases every year
and is the largest appellate litigator in the Commonwealth. Abraham oversaw a
professional staff of 300 assistant district attorneys and 275 support staff.
Lynne Abraham was born and raised in Philadelphia and educated in its public
schools. 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. Abraham is a former
assistant DA. She served as a legislative consultant for the City Council of
Philadelphia, where she assisted council in conducting investigations, drafted
legislation, testified at public hearings, met with citizens' groups and
revised portions of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter. 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. Abraham was elected
by her fellow judges to take over as District Attorney in 1991 when then-DA Ron
Castille, now on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, stepped down from the post in
order to run for mayor. 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). In
September 2006, she announced that she would not seek re-election in 2009. She
held the office of District Attorney longer than anyone in Philadelphia
history. Abraham earned the nicknames "Deadliest DA" and "Queen
of Death" many years ago, for the high rate at which her office sought the
death penalty in past decades. In the 2004 presidential election, she served as
one of Pennsylvania's electors, casting her ballot for John Kerry. In the 2008
election, she cast her electoral ballot for Barack Obama.
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