Philadelphia District Attorney candidate Judge Patrick Dugan appeared live on NewsNation’s ‘CUOMO’ Friday night, where he vowed to conduct a “thorough review” of the death of 27-year-old Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg, which City officials have controversially concluded was a suicide.
The lifelong Democrat, who on November 4 will take on incumbent DA Larry Krasner on the Republican ticket, told host Brian Entin, “If I win, I am going to sit down with seasoned attorneys, prosecutors, homicide prosecutors, and detectives, and do a thorough review. And then make my determination on whether or not this case should go ahead and move forward.”
“Some obvious mistakes were made in the very beginning,” he added, “but for Ellen and her parents, this needs to be looked at again with some fresh eyes.”
To Dugan’s surprise, Entin tagged Greenberg’s parents, Josh and Sandee Greenberg, into the live on-air conversation.
“Music to our ears. From his mouth to God’s ears,” Sandee said. “Larry Krasner was our personal attorney, and then when he ran for office, he had a conflict of interest. But what he’s not telling everyone is – he had more than a conflict of interest… he never returned our personal file that he withheld. And he did a lot of other very disingenuous, unprofessional, unethical things.”
In January 2011, Greenberg was found dead in her apartment by her fiancé, Sam Goldberg, with 20 stab wounds to her neck, back, and head. Greenberg’s body also had 11 bruises, in various locations and stages of healing, and a knife protruding from her chest. The Greenbergs have persistently advocated on their daughter’s behalf since then, insisting that she did not kill herself.
The story has gained extra notoriety in recent weeks. Hulu released a three-part docuseries: Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg? On October 13, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office reaffirmed its previous conclusion that Greenberg’s death was a suicide.
Another notable development from earlier this year happened in February. Former Philadelphia Medical Examiner Dr. Marlon Osbourne, who performed the 2011 autopsy on Greenberg and at first thought it was a homicide, said, “It is my professional opinion Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide.” Osbourne cited information that emerged since his initial assessment as to why he changed his mind.
Ellen’s father, Josh, told Judge Dugan and NewsNation, “If you look at even this [October 14 examination], it’s so bogus. She talks about anxiety as a cause of death… This medical examiner never even spoke to her psychiatrist, but anxiety doesn’t lead to suicide. So the whole thing from the top down… is bogus.”
Entin asked Dugan at the end of the segment, “If you don’t win, do you think the Feds could get involved, Judge? Because it seems like that’s the only other, you know, option at this point.”
Dugan replied, “You would hope somebody would… There are so many obvious questions and details in here that really have to be turned over, because a lot of it just doesn’t make sense.”
“Sandee, Josh… my heart goes out to you. And whether I win or not, I would still like to try to be an advocate and sit down and talk to you further about this… see what I could do to help you.”
