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The chair of the Philadelphia Citizens Police Oversight Commission has been criminally charged with selling sensitive witness information in an attempted murder case, the District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Hassan Bennett, who also works as a public defender, faces charges of bribery and witness intimidation.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a news conference that Bennett provided documents to Thomas Scott, a man who publicly threatened the witness on social media.
Investigators said Bennett, 43, used his position as a public defender to access the city’s case management system. An audit log showed he accessed the materials — which “could only come from an individual that was acting in Mr. Bennett’s position,” according to Krasner’s office.
“It is a fundamental blow at the heart of the criminal justice system when people engage in the intimidation of witnesses,” he said. “Even more so when the case involves extreme violence. It obstructs justice.”
Bennett allegedly gave Scott the witness’s full name and read him the unredacted arrest report. The DA’s office said evidence shows Scott paid Bennett for the information.
