Ex-attorney general sentenced to jail
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Former Attorney General Kathleen Kane was sentenced Monday to 10 to 23 months in jail for illegally disclosing details from a grand jury investigation to embarrass a rival and lying about it under oath.
Kane also was sentenced to eight years of probation by a Montgomery County judge who said Kane’s ego drove her to take down enemies and break the law.
Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy said Kane assumed an “off with your heads” mentality as she ran the state’s top law enforcement agency. The judge called Kane a political “neophyte” who failed to make the transition from campaigner to public servant after she took office.
“This case is about ego — the ego of a politician consumed with her image from Day One,” Demchick-Alloy said. “This case is about retaliation and revenge against perceived enemies who this defendant … felt had embarrassed her in the press.”
Kane, the first woman and first Democrat elected as the state’s top prosecutor, was handcuffed in court and led out a side door. She will remain in custody until she posts $75,000 cash bail.
No surrender date was given, presuming she does post bail.
She had been a stay-athome mother, and former assistant county prosecutor, before using her husband’s trucking fortune to run for statewide office in 2012. She quickly became a rising star in the state Democratic Party before her office devolved into turmoil as career prosecutors came and went.
Kane and her husband are now estranged and share custody of their teenage boys.
“Your children are the ultimate … collateral damages. They are casualties of your actions,” the judge said. “But you did that, not this court. “
Earlier Monday, Kane’s 15-year-old son, Chris, pleaded for leniency while her former deputies described an office demoralized by her leadership and terrorized by “Nixonian espionage.”
Kane, 50, had argued that the loss of her career, law license and reputation was punishment enough. She had asked the judge to sentence her to probation or house arrest.
“I really don’t care what happens to me,” Kane said before leaning toward the defense table to grab tissues. “There is no more torture in the world than to watch your children suffer and know you had something to do with it.”