The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Kathleen Kane to be released from jail
NORRISTOWN >> Disgraced former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Granahan Kane is scheduled to be released from jail this week after completing the incarceration portion of her sentence for her 2016 perjury conviction.
Kane, 53, will be released from custody on Wednesday morning from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Lower Providence, Warden Julio M. Algarin confirmed on Tuesday.
Kane, whose legal woes played out in a county courtroom and dominated headlines both locally and statewide for more than two years, reported to the county jail on Nov. 29, 2018, to begin serving a 10-to-23month sentence in connection with her August 2016 conviction of charges 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, a former Lackawanna County prosecutor who was elected attorney general in 2012, will be released after serving eight months of her sentence and receiving credit for good behavior.
“We’ve had a program in existence for the last 20 years and it’s called the ‘Good Time’ program. That means that time is deducted from her sentence,” Algarin explained. “For every month that an inmate is sentenced to a county sentence (they) can earn six days off their sentence as long as they’re problem free, which she has been.”
After her release, Kane must still serve eight years of probation, part of her original sentence, meaning she will remain under court supervision.
Kane’s life behind bars was a stark contrast to the life she once led as the first Democrat and the first woman ever elected attorney general. Instead of holding news conferences announcing arrests in high-profile state prosecutions and attending meetings with state legislators, Kane’s typical daily schedule as an inmate at the jail included lunch before noon, dinner at 4:30 p.m. and lights out at 10 p.m.
On Aug. 15, 2016, Kane, a mother of two teenage boys, 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.
County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and then co-prosecutor Michelle Henry argued Kane did so to exact “revenge” on a former state prosecutor with whom she was feuding.
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 a 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.
But 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.
Kane resigned from her post two days after her conviction.
On Oct. 24, 2016, Judge Wendy Demchick Alloy sentenced Kane to the 10-to-23-month jail term, to be followed by eight years of probation.
Initially, Kane was permitted to remain free on bail pending the outcome of her state court appeals.
In May 2018, the Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld Kane’s conviction and sentence. The following November, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided not to hear Kane’s final appeal, setting the stage for her to begin serving her sentence.
At that time, DemchickAlloy ordered Kane to surrender to jail officials on Nov. 29.