July 20, 2017
The Philadelphia Common Pleas Board of Judges selected a former city prosecutor Thursday to serve as interim city District Attorney.
Kelley Hodge will serve out the second term of former District Attorney Seth Williams, who resigned in disgrace last month and awaits sentencing in a federal corruption case.
Williams pleaded guilty last month to one count of accepting a bribe. The other 28 counts of bribery, extortion and wire fraud charges were dismissed.
He is set to serve up to five years in prison.
Hodge reportedly beat out Deputy District Attorney John Delaney for the job, which will pay Hodge $77,656 in the five and a half months left on Williams' term, according to Philly.com.
Hodge is an attorney for the general practice law firm Elliott Greenleaf, which she joined in 2016. She is a former supervising attorney for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, where she worked under both Williams and former District Attorney Lynne Abraham. She also served for former Gov. Tom Corbett as the Safe Schools Advocate under the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the state agency on crime prevention and data collection to support evidence-based programs, according to a profile on Elliott Greenleaf's website.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office congratulates Interim District Attorney Hodge on her appointment," the DA's office said Thursday in a statement. "We are excited to welcome her back to the Office, and we look forward to working with her throughout her term in office.”
The Board of Judges reportedly considered 14 candidates, including Abraham.
Abraham is the last DA voted in by the Board of Judges and gained a reputation as Philly's deadliest DA when she served from 1991 to 2010.
A report released by Harvard University researchers last year showed that Abraham obtained 108 death sentences and ranked her as the fourth deadliest prosecutor examined in the study.
