Former Philadelphia police officer Daniel Levitt has been convicted of perjury, after a jury found he lied under oath about how he supposedly spotted a firearm during an April 2021 traffic stop in Northwest Philadelphia. The verdict was announced Tuesday at a news conference led by District Attorney Larry Krasner and the District Attorney's Office Special Investigations Unit.
Body-worn video contradicts testimony
Prosecutors say the stop happened on April 28, 2021, on the 2900 block of North Sydenham Street, after officers pulled over a van for running a stop sign and displaying an unregistered license plate. According to prosecutors, body-worn camera footage shows one officer handing a passenger's backpack to Levitt, the passenger zipping the bag closed, then placing it behind the driver's seat. Those details undercut Levitt's later courtroom story about how he encountered the gun, as reported by NBC10 Philadelphia.
DA: 'It matters'
Assistant District Attorney Clarke Beljean said Levitt testified in August 2021 that a gun was "sticking out" of the backpack, making it plainly visible. The video did not back that up. "That was simply not true," Beljean said, and Krasner warned that false testimony from officers can torpedo an otherwise valid prosecution and chip away at public trust, according to NBC10 Philadelphia.
Charges and case history
Levitt was arrested in March 2022 and charged with perjury, unsworn falsification to authorities and official oppression, according to a March 17, 2022 press release from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. That release noted that prosecutors had reviewed an internal audit of firearm arrests and that the Commonwealth later withdrew the firearms case against the passenger who was arrested after the stop.
Part of a broader accountability push
Krasner's office has been pursuing a series of cases aimed at holding officers accountable for misleading testimony and investigative failures. A 2025 trial of three retired detectives brought mixed verdicts, as reported by AP, and two of those officers were later sentenced to probation, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Legal stakes
The DA's 2022 charging document listed perjury as a third-degree felony, alongside related misdemeanors, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Levitt faces sentencing in August 2026, and prosecutors say the conviction shows just how decisive body-worn camera footage can be when it conflicts with officers' sworn testimony.
The case is expected to add fuel to ongoing scrutiny of vehicle stops and officer credibility in Philadelphia as Krasner's office continues audits and reviews. Civil-rights advocates and defense attorneys say they will be watching Levitt's sentencing, scheduled for August 2026, very closely.
