The jury heard closing arguments on Monday morning and were officially charged later Monday afternoon.
Advertisement
Kane’s attorney, Gerald Shargel, said whether Kane will resign is a question that will be addressed in the coming days.
Kane’s attorney, Shargel, seemed to discount the verdict on the grounds that much of Kane’s preferred defense – that she was being punished by a male-dominated justice system because of her resoluteness in ferreting out sexist and racist emails – was ruled out of bounds for this trial in pre-trial proceedings. They say Kane felt she was above the law and jurors showed otherwise.
On Monday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele called the conviction “a sad day for the commonwealth”.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, renewed his previous calls for Kane to step down.
A spokesman would say only that Kane was “spending time today conferring with senior staff”. She has vowed to appeal.
Kane doesn’t have to resign immediately. Her term ends January 17, when a new attorney general picked by voters in the November election will be sworn in.
“It is past time for this saga to end, and it is time Ms. Kane puts the interests of the people of Pennsylvania before her own”.
There was physical evidence as well, he said, including texts messages, emails and phone calls between Kane and Morrow.
The judge said sentencing will take place within 90 days.
But during a 1 ½ hour closing statement defense lawyer Seth C. Farber argued prosecutors did not prove the charges.
Kathleen Kane, was found guilty of all nine counts including conspiracy, official oppression and perjury. The oath compelled Kane to maintain the secrecy of all matters occurring before past and present statewide grand juries, prosecutors alleged.
They contended she made “honest mistakes” when testifying to the grand jury, but did not intentionally lie.
Kane did not testify or put on any defense witnesses. The trial judge precluded Ms. Kane from using her planned defense, a claim that the investigation was set in motion in retribution for her discovery of a sordid pornographic email distribution on state computers that brought down two state Supreme Court justices, a Corbett administration Cabinet member and others in significant positions.
Kane burst onto the state’s political scene with a convincing victory in the attorney general’s race four years ago.
The first-term Democrat is accused of leaking information about a 2009 grand jury probe to embarrass a rival prosecutor. According to trial testimony, Kane believed Fina had planted a story that showed she had dropped a statehouse sting. Attorney General Kane has been convicted of serious charges. She responded by arranging for a leak of information from an earlier case in which a prominent Philadelphia civil rights leader was investigated by the attorney general’s office but not prosecuted. “You would not even buy a used vehicle from either one of them”.
“There is to be absolutely no retaliation of any kind against any witness in this case, either by your own devices, from your own mouth or your hand, or directing anybody to do anything”, the judge said. One said he conspired with her to leak the material and create a cover story. The other charges are misdemeanors.
Get free real-time news alerts from the Newtown Patch.
However, what Morrow said in court was completely different.
And he acknowledges he lied to a grand jury about it. However, Morrow testified King did have knowledge about the envelope’s contents.
The criminal charges were filed against Kane last August. She schemed to discredit a prosecutor she blamed for embarrassing her-and she meant business. Kane remains the Attorney General as of Monday night.
The top law enforcement official in the USA state of Pennsylvania has been convicted of several crimes after she leaked documents critical of a rival.
Kane could be sent to prison for up to seven years if convicted of felony perjury. She didn’t testify or call any witnesses.
Advertisement
Farber and co-defense lawyers Gerald L. Shargel, Douglas Rosenblum, Ross M. Kramer and Amil Minora, argued King and Morrow gave inconsistent statements and that their testimony can not be trusted.
