Kathleen Kane loses bid to stay out of jail
NORRISTOWN >> Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Granahan Kane, convicted of perjury in 2016, lost her last-minute bid to delay her surrender to jail and must report to the Montgomery County facility by Thursday morning.
In a one-page order issued Wednesday afternoon, county Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy denied Kane’s request without a hearing and ordered the former top law enforcer in the state to surrender at the Lower Providence jail no later than 9 a.m. Thursday. The judge made no further comment in the order.
Kane, 52, sought to delay her surrender, claiming she needed time to make arrangements for her two children before she be-
gan serving her stint behind bars.
“Defendant is a single mother who is and has been the primary custodial parent to two teenage boys, both of whom are currently in high school,” defense lawyer William J. Brennan wrote on Kane’s behalf in papers filed in county court on Wednesday. “Defendant requests a brief extension of the surrender date to allow her to solidify custodial arrangements for her sons with her ex-husband and/or family.”
Brennan claimed Kane’s ex-husband supported the request.
On Tuesday, DemchickAlloy, who presided over Kane’s August 2016 jury trial, ordered Kane to surrender to authorities by Thursday to begin serving a 10-to-23-month jail term.
Earlier Tuesday, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele asked the judge to revoke Kane’s bail and order her to jail after she exhausted her state appeals.
In May, the state Superior Court upheld Kane’s conviction and sentence. On Monday, the state Supreme Court decided not to hear Kane’s most recent appeal, setting the stage for her to begin serving her sentence.
On Aug. 15, 2016, Kane, the first Democrat and the first woman ever elected attorney general, was convicted of charges of perjury, obstructing administration of law, official oppression, false swearing and conspiracy. The jury determined Kane 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.
Steele and co-prosecutor Michelle Henry argued Kane did so to exact “revenge” on a former state prosecutor with whom she was feuding.
Kane, now 52, a former Lackawanna County prosecutor who was elected attorney general in 2012, was permitted to remain free pending her state appeals.
In her appeals, Kane cited nine allegations of trial error, including the denial of her pretrial motion to recuse all county judges from hearing her trial based on her contention that Judges William R. Carpenter, Carolyn T. Carluccio and Risa Vetri Ferman had close ties to the investigation surrounding her.
Kane’s unsuccessful appeals also challenged the denial of her pretrial request to dismiss the case due to “selective and vindictive prosecution.”
At trial, prosecutors argued Kane’s quest for revenge took root on March 16, 2014, when she read a Philadelphia Inquirer article that was “critical” of her for failing to pursue criminal charges against some Philadelphia politicians and for shutting down that sting operation which was led by a former state prosecutor, Frank Fina.
During the trial, witnesses testified Kane believed Fina was responsible for the 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.
Kane also was convicted of lying to the 35th statewide grand jury in November 2014 to cover up her leaks by lying under oath when she claimed she never agreed to maintain her secrecy regarding the 2009 grand jury investigation.
Prosecutors said they discovered evidence that Kane signed a so-called “secrecy oath” on her second day in office on Jan. 17, 2013, promising her secrecy for statewide investigating grand juries one through 32. The oath compelled Kane to maintain the secrecy of all matters occurring before past and present statewide grand juries, prosecutors alleged.
Kane did not testify at her trial. However, 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 had discovered pornographic emails being exchanged between state employees on state email addresses.