Kane’s case

Remember the nature of the former AG’s crimes

Kathleen Kane, the former attorney general of Pennsylvania, is hoping that time will help memories fade. She was convicted of perjury and related charges in August 2016. Two months later, she was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail. But she has stayed out of the slammer during the lengthy appeal process. Just this week, her case made it to the state Superior Court. Her lawyer seeks to undo the conviction on the grounds that the special prosecutor had been granted too much power.

Everyone deserves the full benefit of the appeals process. Ms. Kane, at one time a rising political star, was the first woman to serve as attorney general, as well as the first Democrat to hold the elected office. She also deserves history to judge the totality of her work, which included the creation of a statewide grand jury that investigated child sex abuse.

Yet the nature of her crimes cannot be overlooked. No one was physically harmed by her actions, but she caused great distress to a bedrock of democracy: She lied under oath. The case itself may rest in the annals of the absurd — a petty feud with a prosecutor in Philadelphia led her to leak secret grand jury documents to the Philadelphia Daily News, prompting a June 2014 story to embarrass her arch-enemy. Before a grand jury investigating the leaks, she did not tell the whole truth. Bad enough for a civilian; unforgivable for the highest law enforcement official of the commonwealth.

It’s hard to feel sympathy for someone who has not shown contrition. Let the appeals continue, but don’t forget the turmoil that Ms. Kane’s saga caused.