Pennsylvania former Attorney General Kathleen Kane was sentenced Monday to 10-23 months in jail for perjury and other eight counts. Her case was linked to a complicated legal process in which she decided to leak grand jury secret information to embarrass a rival prosecutor.
Kane, 50, lied about that case under oath and resigned from office in August the day after she was convicted of two felony counts of perjury and seven misdemeanor charges. On Monday, a Montgomery County judge sentenced the ex-attorney general to eight years of probation after saying she broke the law as a consequence of her ego and need for revenge, as reported by The Associated Press.
Kane was convicted of perjury, obstruction, and official oppression, among other six counts. Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy described the former attorney general as a political “neophyte” who couldn’t handle the transition from politician to a public servant in 2013 when she took office and was considered a rising star in Pennsylvania’s political spectrum. Not only was she the first woman elected as the state’s top prosecutor but also the first Democrat to receive that honor.
She posted $75,000 cash bail and was then released Monday. Kane will remain free while her lawyers appeal her conviction, ABC News reported. The former attorney general didn’t testify at her trial.
The defense sought probation of house arrest, but prosecutors insisted that she be sentenced to jail time and described her crimes as “egregious,” according to the report by ABC News. They claimed that Kane’s paranoia and broken leadership led her to ruin morale in the office and destroy bridges among local, state, and federal agencies.
“Through a pattern of systemic firings and Nixonian espionage, she created a terror zone in this office,” said Erik Olsen, a career prosecutor who’s the current chief deputy attorney general, as quoted by ABC News.
Kane says she’s mostly worried about her children
Kane told the judge that her fate wasn’t as important to her as her children’s, who are suffering and she knows she somehow holds responsibility. The judge replied that her kids represented collateral damages caused by her actions and remarked that she was the only one to be held responsible, not the court.
Chris Kane, the former attorney general’s 15-year-old son, pleaded for leniency on Monday. His mother, who shares custody of the teenage boys with her estranged husband, asked the judge to sentence her to house arrest and let her raise her sons, arguing that the loss of her law license and reputation was punishment enough. She mentioned that Zachary, her younger son, refused to attend Monday’s sentencing because “he couldn’t even bear it,” ABC News reported.
Kane’s desire for revenge destroyed everything she had accomplished. Among other things, she supported gay marriage and conducted an investigation of pornography. She alleged that judges, lawyers, and other public figures were trading it on state computers and two state Supreme Court justices even resigned as a consequence of her investigation.
Source: ABC News