Kathleen Kane
Credit: Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
Pennsylvania’s chief law enforcement official has been found guilty of nine counts including perjury and obstruction of the administration of law.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane, 50, sat in a Montgomery County courtroom Monday evening as jurors – six men and six women – read her the verdict in her case. Sentencing for Kane’s crimes will come at a later date.
According to prosecutors, the Democrat was involved in leaking grand jury documents in hopes of a Philadelphia Daily news reporter publishing an article that would paint her political enemies in a bad light. Kane then lied a
bout her actions under oath.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kane’s attorney Gerald Shargel called the verdict “a crushing blow.”
From 2015: Bucks County Prosecutors Part Of Team That Brought Charges Against Kathleen Kane
Attorney General Kathleen Kane speaking to reporters in 2014.
Credit: State of PA
“She knew it was wrong, she knew it was against the law, and she didn’t care,” Bucks County Assistant District Attorney Michelle Henry, who assisted Montgomery County prosecutors, said. “She did it for revenge. And after that happened, she covered it up with lies.”
The Associated Press reported that the perjury charge alone could send Kane to prison for seven years.
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 re-election this year.
