Lynne Abraham

Lynne Abraham
Lynne Abraham
District Attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In office May 15, 1991[1] – January 4, 2010
Preceded by	Ron Castille
Succeeded by	Seth Williams
Personal details
Born	1941
Political party	Democrat
Spouse(s)	Frank Ford (deceased)
Residence	Philadelphia

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.

Early life

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.

Career

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.^{[citation needed]} 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 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[2][3] In the 2004 presidential election, she served as one of Pennsylvania's electors, casting her ballot for John Kerry.^[4] In the 2008 election, she cast her electoral ballot for Barack Obama.^[5]

References

1. ^ Newsbank archives website
2. ^ Betsey Piette, "Why Philly D.A. Abraham is called 'Queen of Death'", in Workers' World, 17 May 2001
3. ^ Rosenberg, Tina "The Deadliest DA" in The New York Times, 16 July 1995
4. ^ 2004 Electoral College archives website
5. ^ Philadelphia Daily News, Clout column, Nov. 7, 2008: "Nutter, Abraham headed for college in Dec."

External links

• Lynne Abraham Biographical Statement
• Moms Against Guns statement

Legal offices
Preceded by Ron Castille	District Attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1991–2010	Succeeded by Seth Williams

Persondata
Name	Abraham, Lynne
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1941
Place of birth	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of death
Place of death