Kathleen Kane watching a 2015 drug investigation take place in Philadelphia.
Credit: PA Internet News Service
The state’s former top law enforcement official is headed to the slammer.
Former Attorney General Kathleen Kane, 50, was sentenced by a Montgomery County judge in Norristown Monday to 10 to 23 months behind bars. She will also have to serve eight years probation.
The sentencing comes a little more than two months after she was convicted on nine criminal charges, including perjury and conspiracy.
According to prosecutors, Kane was involved in leaking grand jury documents in hopes a Philadelphia Daily News reporter publishing an article that would paint her political enemies in a bad light. Kane then lied about her actions under oath.
Kane walking into court Monday.
Credit: Fox29/Screenshot
“I don’t care what happens to me. Since this conviction, I feel like we have been in this downward spiral and things are not going well with them …There is no more torture in the world than watching your children suffer and thinking you had something to do with it,” Kane told a judge during the morning portion of her sentencing hearing, according to BillyPenn.com.
Kane’s attorney told CBS 3 that she has deep remorse for violating the trust of Pennsylvanians.
Kane recently sought house arrest or probation instead of jail time for her crimes.
Former Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea testified Monday that Kane spending time in prison would make her a target for prison gangs and prisoners associated with Mexican cartels. He told the judge sending the former attorney general to prison would be a “death sentence,” PennLive.com reported.
Former AD #KathleenKane gets parking ticket while in court waiting to find out her sentencing @WGAL pic.twitter.com/OXw1k7KW88
— Colton White (@WGAL8photog_cw) October 24, 2016
While she was in court for sentencing, Kane’s Range Rover received a parking ticket on the streets of Norristown, according to various reports.
Following Kane’s conviction, she stepped down from the attorney general post and her first deputy, Bruce Castor, took the helm. By the end of August, the state senate appointed veteran prosecutor Bruce Beemer to lead the office.
Kane was elected in 2012 to become attorney general and was the first woman to hold the post. She worked her way from an attorney to a Lackawanna County prosecutor. Kane’s law license was taken away last year after charges were filed against her and she did not seek reelection this year.
