1/5/17
by News Department on 01/05/17Kane appeals...
Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane hopes to overturn her nine-count perjury and obstruction conviction because of what she calls trial errors and overlapping charges.
Kane has been sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail but remains free while she appeals.
The Scranton Democrat was serving her first term in public office when she was charged with leaking secret grand jury documents to the press, and she resigned after her August conviction. Her lawyer, in a filing Tuesday, challenged the use of a special prosecutor to investigate the case.
The jury found Kane orchestrated the leak to embarrass rival prosecutor Frank Fina. The defense argued that she should have been allowed to show she had a more damaging way to seek revenge — allegations that he had pornography on his state email account. However, Montgomery County Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy had banned any mention of Kane's investigation, which brought down two state Supreme Court justices.
Deputy Attorney General Bruce Beemer, who testified against Kane, now serves as interim attorney general. Democrat Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County commissioner and former lawmaker, takes office later this month.
