State data on Montgomery County sentences for 2015 show Demchick-Alloy is, overall, a middle-of-the-road judge for her county.
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“We submit to you we have proven this case on each and every charge not beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond all doubt”, he said.
A Kane defense lawyer told the jury that key witnesses would “say whatever they need to in order to protect themselves”.
Perjury – the only felony charge – can bring up to seven years in prison.
“That would be for a judge to decide”.
He noted Mr. Morrow’s testimony of how one of Ms. Kane’s aides – former Dumore police chief Patrick Reese – checked to see if he was wearing a wire when he went to meet Ms. Kane for lunch in August 2014. Pat Stefano, R-Fayette County.
“It seemed that we had somebody who felt that she was above the law, and that’s not the case because no one is above the law”, he said.
Kane had resisted earlier calls to step down, saying resignation would be an admission of guilt “and I’m not guilty”. That law was eventually overturned by a federal court. “I’m dying here”, she texted Morrow as the Philadelphia Daily News reporter worked on the story, according to texts shown to the jury.
Kane’s conviction and subsequent resignation represents a dramatic turn of fortune for the 50-year-old former county prosecutor who was the first woman and first Democrat elected as attorney general in Pennsylvania.
After Kane dropped the investigation, the city’s district attorney, Seth Williams, took up the case and got convictions against five lawmakers and a traffic court judge.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Kane believed Fina was the source of a story the paper ran in 2014 about her decision to shut down an undercover sting, which Fina had started, that caught Philadelphia officials on tape accepting cash. She then lied under oath about leaking the documents when questioned by a judge. The jury began deliberations Monday afternoon.
“Kathleen is a great Democrat who understands that an Attorney General’s job is to stand up for consumers and people”, Clinton said in a press release at the time.
The same prosecutors involved in the Philadelphia investigations oversaw the Sandusky case.
While the verdict has been “a crushing blow”, according to Kane’s defense attorney Gerald Shargel, he said that Kane’s team aren’t giving up on her just yet, CNN reported.
Costopoulos clashed with Kane previous year in the email controversy surrounding former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin. Under commonwealth law, the Solicitor General is the successor to the Attorney General.
Governor Tom Wolf, who had called for Kane’s immediate resignation following her conviction, praised her decision to step down.
The governor said he will work with Republican and Democratic leaders in the state Senate to fill Kane’s vacancy.
However, senators were preparing to act regardless, under an obscure procedure known as direct address, in which a state official can be removed from office.
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Kane maintained her innocence after being arrested and arraigned, stating that she was “very disappointed” in the charges that were filed and that she would vigorously defend herself.
