Pennsylvania attorney general resigns a day after conviction

Assistant District Attorney Michelle Henry said that “there were great men and women” who work in Kane’s office and that “they have had to suffer through what this defendant has done”.

The state’s top law enforcement official is now a convicted felon.

The lawyers immediately went into a private conference with the judge, leaving Ms. Kane, who campaigned on a promise to uncover political interference in Pennsylvania, alone at the defense table.

Kathleen Kane’s resignation is mandated by state law. She did not plan to seek reelection.

Kane’s deputy, Bruce Castor, will replace his former boss as acting attorney general until a permanent successor is elected in November.

The top law enforcement official in the USA state of Pennsylvania has been convicted of several crimes after she leaked documents critical of a rival. Her lawyers say she will appeal.

Kane did not testify at trial.

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.

A spokesman would say only that Kane was “spending time today conferring with senior staff”. But an early honeymoon period in office, when she spoke out for the legalization of gay marriage, was soon marred by turmoil as she sparred with officials inside and outside the office. Castor said he spoke with Kane prior to her decision and believes she made the right one. However, the judge in her perjury trial did not allow the jury to hear about the email scandal. And calls for her resignation began nearly immediately after her conviction Monday.

An offender who abused her powers as the state’s top legal officer, however, could land in the guideline’s “aggravated range”, which runs from a minimum term of 9 months in jail to 1 year. While she did not find that politics played a role in that investigation, she did discover that former state prosecutor Frank Fina and other officials were exchanging mildly pornographic emails on state computers, and informed the press.

“Once the jury has spoken, it becomes very hard for any law enforcement officer to have credibility with even the appeal of a criminal conviction of a serious nature”.

For all the talk about how unprecedented the resignation of Kathleen Kane is, it is not the first time an attorney general in Pennsylvania has been forced to resign amid controversy.

But in last week’s trial, prosecutors presented testimony from Kane’s former subordinates and associates to document her active involvement in plotting the illegal leak then trying to cover her tracks by framing a top aide.

As you might surmise, Republican leaders in the Legislature do not disagree with the governor. Her own conviction drew no mention.

“The only issue I have with Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s decision to resign is that it is long overdue”, Rafferty said.

“It helps (her attorneys) make the case that she’s suffered enough through the ignominy of this case” and, theoretically, she’s also stripped herself of any opportunity to take similar actions in the future.

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Given the verdict, I believe the Attorney General should resign.