It was unclear on September 17 why a search warrant was served at the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
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In this instance, the alleged misconduct is that Kane leaked information from a secret grand jury proceeding (an offense that, if strictly punished, would leave much of this country bereft of prosecutors) and then lied about it to investigators, thereby obstructing justice.
THE MERCURY Pensylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane addresses the media following her arraignment at District Court in Upper Providence Thursday.
Kane and her top aides, she told the grand jury, “all knew that we were not sworn into a 2009 grand jury”.
Kane spoke defiantly after the arraignment before a Collegeville, Montgomery County magistrate, and as reported by The Associated Press, vowed to continue working to expose what she said was a “network” involving judges, federal prosecutors, attorneys general, law enforcement, district attorneys and public defenders that was fouling the criminal justice system.
Kane had signed the oath in January 2013 on her second day in office, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. But she won’t be able to work in any capacity as a lawyer.
Ms. Kane said she had given the state Supreme Court, the Judicial Conduct Board and the state Ethics Commission more than 1,500 Eakin emails to review.
He said they are part of a set that goes beyond pornographic emails discovered in Attorney General email archives and that have previously been released, and show a pattern of inappropriate communication between prosecutors, police and members of the judiciary.
“Let me say this”.
Kane’s attorneys have argued in a court filing that she only authorized the release of nonsecret information “relating to a pattern of unjustifiable selective prosecution or nonprosecution” at the attorney general’s office before she took the reins. Kane and her legal team, however, had insisted she never signed such a document.
The arrest affidavit said Kane testified before a grand jury in November 2014 that she was not sworn to secrecy for the 2009 grand jury.
For the good of the commonwealth, Kane should resign. Her spokesman said he could not say how many contained offensive material.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend Kane’s license to practice law, members of the Republican-controlled state Senate are considering employing a never-used provision in the Pennsylvania Constitution that would permit the governor to force Kane out of office.
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“He made a mistake, he misspoke and Kathleen Kane is telling the truth”, Davis’ secretary said. An article critical of her decision not to file charges in that case appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on March 16, 2014. Reese is facing a contempt of court charge for allegedly snooping on computer records related to the grand jury leak case.
