Kane’s attorneys on Monday indicated they will argue she did not get a fair trial because she was barred from arguing that she was targeted by state officials who wanted to stop her from revealing they exchanged pornographic emails.
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On Monday night, after hearing days of testimony about petty feuds, political intrigue and “cloak-and-dagger” machinations, a Montgomery County jury convicted Kane of all nine counts against her, including perjury, obstruction and official oppression.
The truth, as bluntly laid out by Montgomery County prosecutors, was much simpler than that. Kane is set to be sentenced in October.
“This is war”, she wrote in a 2014 email to a political strategist.
Along the way, the first woman and first Democrat ever elected to the post of attorney general in Pennsylvania crossed the line into criminal conduct.
Legal experts varied in their opinions on whether Kane will be imprisoned.
Kane’s criticism of the Sandusky case had triggered a bitter feud with the investigators who handled it, and county prosecutors say she suspected they had leaked the unflattering story to the Inquirer.
The trial centered on a scandal in which she allegedly released sealed grand jury documents to the press with the intent of damaging her political rival and former state prosecutor, Frank Fina.
He said Kane warranted taxpayer-paid security during the trial and on other occasions. Her defense team did nothing to counter the charges and didn’t call a single witness.
It was not the first time Kane, considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, raised eyebrows.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday that he has confidence in the employees of the state’s top law enforcement office to perform its most important functions.
Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy ordered Kane to surrender her passport and threatened to jail her if she retaliated against the once-trusted aides who testified against her.
In an episode that seemed more likely at a mob trial than a statehouse corruption case, Kane’s political operative described being taken to a parking garage, stripped of his phone, keys and wallet and searched for a recording device before a lunch meeting with the attorney general. Maybe Kane thought she had been elected judge instead of prosecutor, deciding which laws she would enforce and which she would casually ignore. Although convicted, she continues to deny the accusations. Her term expires in January and she previously ruled out a run for re-election. Kathleen lost her law license but steadfastly held onto her job as attorney general, despite repeated requests from Governor Tom Wolf to step down. But now that Kane has been convicted, Republicans were ready to make another push. She is the second attorney general – Republican Ernest Preate of Scranton was the first – to resign during that period because of lawbreaking. “I believed this when she was charged, and today, after conviction, there should be no question that she should resign immediately”.
Seeking payback, she ordered aides to leak secret investigative information to the Philadelphia Daily News in an effort to show that her perceived enemies had bungled a 2009 probe into an NAACP official, prosecutors said.
As you might surmise, Republican leaders in the Legislature do not disagree with the governor. Defense lawyers hinted that might be the basis for an eventual appeal.
“While there is no simple procedure to remove a civil officer, the office of Attorney General and its employees, as well as the people of Pennsylvania, deserve to move on”. She did Pennsylvania a favor and didn’t wait that long.
Her actions have put the Office of Attorney General in the spotlight – something she clearly craves – for all the wrong reasons. She cheated them – as well as the citizens of the Commonwealth. She was not wounded by a cabal of evil prosecutors and their buddy judges.
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Kane was found guilty on all counts.
