Hassan Bennett, the chair of Philadelphia's Citizens Police Oversight Commission, was arrested Tuesday morning on bribery and intimidation charges tied to his separate job helping defendants navigate the city's bail system. Sources cited by KYW Newsradio allege he sold confidential information about criminal cases that he obtained through that work.
Bennett was taken into custody Tuesday morning, according to Audacy/KYW Newsradio, which reported that he faces charges in connection with selling confidential information about criminal cases he accessed through his position as a bail navigator at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. NBC10 Philadelphia separately confirmed that Bennett was charged with bribery and intimidation.
Bennett has sat on the oversight commission since it was formed four years ago, and he took over as chair after the panel's original chairman stepped down in 2024, per the same KYW Newsradio account. The commission is currently operating with only six of its nine seats filled, the station notes, a staffing gap that now comes alongside the arrest of its own leader.
A Watchdog With a Complicated Past
Bennett's path to the oversight commission runs through one of Philadelphia's more closely watched wrongful-conviction cases. He was convicted of murder and, after being granted a new trial, represented himself and was acquitted in 2019 — a case The Philadelphia Inquirer covered extensively at the time, describing him as a man found not guilty of a murder after acting as his own attorney. The outlets diverge on exactly how long he spent behind bars before that acquittal: the station's report puts the figure at 11 years in prison before he was granted a new trial, while the Inquirer's account says he had served 13 years. That discrepancy remains unresolved between the two sources.
Bennett went on to reach a $4 million settlement with the city in January 2025 over his wrongful-conviction lawsuit, the station reported. A source also told the outlet that Bennett nearly lost his job a few years ago over an incident similar to the one now at the center of his arrest, though no further detail on that earlier episode was provided.
