A jury of six men and six women has been seated to hear the perjury and obstruction trial of Pennsylvania’s attorney general.
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“Where’s my article?” Henry said Kane wrote to her political consultant Josh Morrow in 2014, before a newspaper article was published using the information Kane is accused of leaking to the Philadelphia Daily News. She insists she never broke the law. Her twin sister, a senior lawyer on her staff, sat in the front row. She calls the charges payback for her crusade to root out judges, lawyers and others who traded offensive and pornographic emails on state servers. For example, the judge asked if any of them could not serve for the length of the trial – estimated to be one week – because of an undue hardship, which the judge reminded them does not mean being inconvenienced.
The jury was selected from a pool of 100 potential jurors who crammed into the courthouse’s ceremonial courtroom for the selection process.
Kane nonetheless appeared confident seated at the defense table Monday beside a five-person legal team led by NY trial lawyer Gerald Shargel, perhaps best known for winning an acquittal for mob boss John Gotti.
She is charged with leaking secret grand jury information to a reporter to embarrass enemies and then lying about it under oath.
Kane, who has portrayed herself as a prosecutor under attack for exposing an old boys’ network at the highest levels of state law enforcement, claims her prosecution was instigated by former deputy attorneys general angered by her campaign pledge to review the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case for mistakes.
Prosecutors’ first witness Tuesday was Montgomery County Detective Paul Bradbury, who began explaining the investigation that led to Kane’s prosecution. She lost her law license over the charges and did not seek re-election this year. Now, for the first time, the jury will be deciding her own fate.
Ms. Kane, who has pleaded not guilty, has portrayed the case against her as a vindictive prosecution fueled by a group of men who wanted to get back at her for exposing the exchange of pornographic emails by prosecutors, judges and defense lawyers on state computers. But the trial judge says the defense can’t bring it up at trial.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is used to having juries decide her trials.
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Kane has hired prominent lawyers to defend her: first, Bill Clinton confidante Lanny Davis and now, NY mob lawyer Gerald Shargel.
