Kane outlines case for appeal.
Former Pa. attorney general faces 10 to 23 months in jail after conviction
NORRISTOWN >> Kathleen Kane’s defense team filed a statement Tuesday in Montgomery County Court outlining the complaints on which the former Attorney General of Pennsylvania will base her appeal.
Kane, 50, was convicted in August of perjury, obstructing administration of law, official oppression, false swearing and conspiracy. She was sentenced on Oct. 24 to 10 to 23 months in county jail.
The statement, filed by Kane’s attorney Joshua D. Lock, cites nine points of complaint that are being focused on in her appeal. The first point was that a motion was denied for all Montgomery County judges to recuse themselves from Kane’s trial, “based on the fact that Judges William R. Carpenter, Carolyn T. Carluccio and Risa Vetri Ferman were all directly to closely connected to the case,” Lock writes in the statement.
Other motions that were denied, including those to suppress evidence and to several motions to dismiss individual charges, were listed as other complaints.
Lock’s statement also cites that the denial to dismiss the case due to selective and vindictive prosecution.
At trial, witnesses testified Kane believed a former state prosecutor, Frank Fina, was responsible for her negative publicity.
To retaliate against Fina, Steele and Henry alleged, Kane orchestrated the release to a reporter of a memo, emails and the transcript of an interview pertaining to the 2009 Investigating Grand Jury No. 29, an investigation that centered on a Philadelphia civil rights official, which Fina supervised and then didn’t pursue charges. Prosecutors argued the civil rights official, who was never charged with any crime, was harmed by the release of the grand jury information.
Another complaint mentions the denial of presenting evidence of pornographic emails as part of the defense that the prosecution was selective and vindictive. The statement claims that the evidence would have rebutted an argument by prosecutors that Kane leaked grand jury testimony as retaliation.
“She had a far more powerful means of retaliation at her disposal, had she been inclined to use it,” the filing states.
The final complaint listed by Lock is an objection to the jury instruction in the case, “as to what constitutes secret grand jury information.”
On Aug. 15, Kane — the first Democrat and the first woman ever elected attorney general — was convicted of charges of perjury, obstructing administration of law,
Kane, 50, was convicted in August of perjury, obstructing administration of law, official oppression, false swearing and conspiracy. Shewas sentenced on Oct. 24 to 10 to 23months in county jail.
official oppression, false swearing and conspiracy. The jury determined she orchestrated the illegal disclosure of secret grand jury information to the media and then engaged in acts designed to conceal and cover up her conduct.
Kane also was convicted of lying under oath to the 35th statewide grand jury in November 2014 to cover up her leaks when she claimed she never agreed to maintain her secrecy regarding the 2009 grand jury investigation.
Throughout the investigation, Kane claimed she did nothing wrong and implied the charges were part of an effort to force her out of office because she discovered pornographic emails being exchanged between state employees on state email addresses.
Staff writer Carl Hessler Jr. contributed to this report.