Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, second left, and members of her legal and security teams, prepare to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday.
Advertisement
Kane hired him in March.
Kane, 50, a first-term Democrat and the first woman ever to be elected to the state post, faces a possible maximum sentence of 14 to 28 years in state prison on felony charges of perjury and misdemeanor charges of obstructing administration of law, official oppression, false swearing and conspiracy. But, as attorney general, I think she has a very high standard to uphold.
Attorney Gerald Shargel, best known for his defense of NY mobster John Gotti, vowed to appeal, saying Kane’s team of five lawyers believes its defense was compromised.
The first deputy attorney general, Bruce Castor, will fill the attorney general’s job for now – something he has essentially been doing already; Kane lost her license to practice law last fall.
On Kane’s resignation, Castor said it did not come to a surprise to him and he understood why she did it. And calls for her resignation began nearly immediately after her conviction Monday.
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.
“I have full faith and confidence in the employees of the Office of the Attorney General and know that they will continue to perform its most important functions including protecting consumers and prosecuting criminals”. She’s a former county prosecutor who soared to victory three years ago as an outsider.
Kane, who had never sought state office before, campaigned in 2012 promising to review the investigation of Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State football coach convicted of child sex abuse. But she squandered her early popularity, feuded with rivals and aides, and ultimately was undone by what prosecutors portrayed as a personal vendetta for her critics and perceived enemies.
“This is war”, Kane wrote in an e-mail that was repeatedly referred to by prosecutors in court.
That step has been taken just twice — including once earlier this year, when Kane’s law license was suspended.
When she suspected a former office prosecutor had leaked a critical news article about her shutting down a statehouse probe, she made a decision to leak word that he had shut down an investigation into an NAACP official in 2009, the jury found. Her lawyers say she’ll appeal.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said it was “a sad day for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania” when an attorney general is convicted “of crimes involving an abuse of power and lying under oath”.
Within minutes of the verdict, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf called for Kane to resign.
Advertisement
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.
