A former Pennsylvania attorney general reported to jail on Thursday for perjury and other charges.
Kathleen Kane, the first Democrat and first woman to serve as the state’s top cop, was considered a rising star on the left before her 2016 conviction for lying to investigators about allegedly leaking secret grand jury information to get revenge against a former state prosecutor.
Her final appeal was dropped Monday and she was ordered to go to prison on Thursday morning.
Democrat state AG reports to jail
Kane showed up to Montgomery County Correctional Facility in suburban Philadelphia bright and early Thursday morning, two years after her conviction on charges of perjury, false swearing, obstruction of justice, official oppression, and conspiracy. She is serving a sentence of between 10 and 23 months.
The former prosecutor and Scranton native had a big smile on her face as she sat in the passenger seat of a pick-up truck that transported her to the jail, and she wore a grin in her booking photo. Her attorney vowed that his client would make a comeback.
“I spoke to her this morning and I think she handled it with fortitude and dignity,” said her defense attorney, William J. Brennan. “It’s been a long, unpleasant process for Kathleen and many other people. She’s now serving her sentence. Ten months goes by quickly, and she will come out, I predict, and lead a very productive, hopefully, long life. This is not the end of Kathleen Kane.”
But the district attorney who prosecuted Kane had a different message, saying that Kane’s imprisonment “closes this unfortunate chapter for the people of Pennsylvania.”
“As the jail door shuts her in, a strong message is being sent that no one is above the law. No one. Not even the chief law enforcement officer of the commonwealth,” District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said in a statement.
Kane will undergo a health screening and full body scan and search before receiving her prison uniform. Montgomery County government spokesman John Corcoran said that Kane would stay in a protective “hard cell” in her first days there and will then have the chance to request special protection because of her former service in law enforcement.
Grand jury leak scandal
Kane was first accused of leaking secret grand jury information to the media to embarrass a former state prosecutor and rival, Frank Fina, in 2013. Kane believed that Fina had told the Philadelphia Inquirer about her decision to drop a case against six black Democratic lawmakers on which he had worked.
Her lawyers argued that she only intended to leak legal information, not grand jury information, which is protected by law. Other arguments raised by Kane’s defense included claims that she was the target of prejudiced prosecution.
Kane resigned from her position days after the conviction and was released on $75,000 bail. She appealed the conviction, and Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court court denied Kane’s appeal for the last time on Monday, setting the stage for her jail sentence.
With the end of her appeal, the district attorney’s office filed a motion to revoke bail on Tuesday with Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy, who oversaw Kane’s trial. The request was granted.
Kane made one last attempt to stay out of jail on Wednesday, asking for more time to make arrangements for her teenage sons, but the judge denied the request.
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