Pennsylvania’s governor is renewing his call for the state’s attorney general to resign now that she’s been convicted of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak.
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Kane, who was the first woman and Democrat elected to serve as the state’s attorney general, was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Prosecutors say Kane orchestrated a cover-up of the leak and lied to a grand jury about it.
“Things that the commonwealth says do not hold up to scrutiny when you look at the actual evidence”, Farber said, and cast blame instead on two prosecution witnesses: Adrian King, a former deputy to Kane, and Josh Morrow, a political strategist who was given immunity to testify. The defense said Kane wouldappeal.
Kane is accused of leaking secret grand jury files and lying about it under oath.
Defense lawyer Seth Farber, in closing arguments Monday, said Morrow and King would “say whatever they need to in order to protect themselves”. “You would not even buy a used auto from either one of them”.
A top deputy told the jury he was alarmed by the contents of the June 2014 article.
Defense Attorney Gerald Shargel told media outside the court that the verdict was “a crushing blow” but that his team had not lost its resolve.
“Who would say that other than the person that is responsible for it?” They alleged that Kane acted on anger about a local newspaper article that accused her of dropping an investigation into politicians accepting bribes. “It is time for Ms. Kane to resign”.
The six-male, six-female jury reached its verdict after about four hours of deliberation, a period interrupted once by a series of questions for legal clarifications and hard copies of some exhibits. She’s not running for a second term. She has previously said that she was the victim of an “old boy’s network” who is angry she exposed hundreds of offensive or pornographic emails found on state computer servers.
“We have arguments to make on whether this trial was fair, we intend to pursue all arguments that are available to us, we’re not going to walk away from any arguments”, he said. Over the years, however, court decisions have allowed officials to remain in office until sentencing.
Perjury, the only felony charged, can bring up to seven years in prison.
Kane was elected in 2012 after she campaigned with a promise to review the investigation into Jerry Sandusky, the assistant football coach for Penn State who was convicted of sexual abuse, which was led by the attorney general at the time, Tom Corbett, and Fina. “I implore Attorney General Kane to do what is right: put the commonwealth’s residents first and step down fromoffice”. Preate was charged with federal racketeering and corruption and pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
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