Kathleen Kane followed an entourage of law enforcement agents and her twin sister into the Montgomery County Courthouse, offering no comment as she walked by a corridor filled with reporters and photographers.
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Bur for weirdness, you could start with the fact that Kane’s twin sister, Ellen Granahan, was there and was, at times, swarmed by photographers thinking she was the attorney general.
A judge on Monday ruled there is sufficient evidence to send state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane to trial on charges she leaked secret grand jury information, then lied about her actions.
“Attorney General Kane is not guilty of any of these charges”, said Shargel.
Defense lawyer Gerald Shargel raised Kane’s knowledge of the explicit emails near the end of the evidence hearing, saying exposing former prosecutor Frank Fina’s “disgraceful conduct” would have been an easier way to retaliate against him.
“I’m not going to try the case in the media”.
Kane, 49, also is charged with lying under oath about the leak, ordering aides to illegally snoop through computer files to keep tabs on the investigation into it and harming the reputation of a former civil rights leader named in the leaked documents.
She faces up to seven years in prison on the most serious charge, perjury. She is scheduled to be arraigned October. 14.
Peifer was not charged earlier this month when Ferman announced her criminal case against Kane. She has vowed to remain in office.
Kane is accused of leaking a confidential grand jury memo and transcript associated to the Mondesire case to a Philadelphia Day by day Information reporter to embarrass rival prosecutors concerned within the case.
Kane’s case allegedly began in early 2014 after the Philadelphia Enquirer ran a story on her, alleging that she shut down an investigation into state Democrats in order to protect her colleagues. They include perjury, official oppression, false swearing and contempt of court.
She also claimed during that press conference that she was not allowed to release those emails – which she characterized as pornographic, racist and skewering some religions – due to a cloak of grand jury secrecy.
She has denied any wrongdoing but the case now moves to Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
“I was trying to figure out in my head how we would handle it because it was clearly grand jury information”, Beemer said, according to Bradbury.
The story that prosecutors say spurred the events leading to the attorney general’s alleged crimes was published in March 2014 in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Beemer said he was taken aback by Kane’s position.
That issue could more appropriately be raised in the county court when the defense presents its case for trial, she said. Peifer is described in the criminal complaint as one of Kane’s most “trusted confidents”.
“The entire story hasn’t come out yet, and we’re looking forward to a trial”, Shargel said. Shargel said he couldn’t lose his reputation a second time.
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Peifer testified that he was asked to bring a memorandum from a 2009 grand jury investigating Whyatt Mondesire to Kane.
