A Montgomery County judge on Monday ordered Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane to stand trial on criminal charges after a hearing in which one of Kane’s most trusted aides testified against her, and the judge repeatedly rejected her legal arguments.
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There were no real surprises in the hearing, although the AG caused a bit of an uproar when she used her twin sister to divert attention when entering the courtroom.
After [Kane entered] the courtroom, photographers and reporters waiting outside in the hallway griped about only getting shots of the attorney general’s twin sister.
Kane, a democrat and the first woman elected to the attorney general position in Pennsylvania, maintained some support from her own party, as democrats polled 39-37 percent on the issue of her resignation.
In a survey of 1,085 Pennsylvania voters done from August 7-18, 54 percent said they disapproved of the job Kane had done, while only 20 percent supported the embattled attorney general.
“It is a secret process, and for me to give out any information to somebody who is not going into the grand jury is actually a criminal offense”, Kane said in 1999, according to transcripts read in court. After Fina fought to have the case reopened, several legislators were later convicted, and Kane suspected Fina of working with the Philadelphia Inquirer on the paper’s unflattering accounts of Kane’s involvement in the case.
Prosecutors allege she leaked grand jury information from a 2009 case to embarrass a rival prosecutor.
A top aide to Kane left a package containing the material between his front and screen doors, prosecutor Kevin Steele said.
“The attorney general knew full well that Mr. Fina had a pornography collection of thousands and thousands of images, inappropriate statements, misogynist points of view and disgraceful conduct”, [Shargel] said.
“You’ve gone very far afield”.
Kane is charged with one felony count of perjury, and misdemeanor counts of official oppression, obstruction and false swearing.
Kane faces up to seven years in prison on the most serious charge, perjury.
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In the earlier testimony, Kane said she would feign ignorance to preserve the confidentiality of grand jury proceedings.
