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Pennsylvania attorney general convicted of 9 criminal charges filed against her

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MJPIA

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/16/us/trial-kathleen-kane-pennsylvania-attorney-general.html?_r=0
She was a rising Democratic star. She was the first in her party to be elected state attorney general. She was one of the most powerful women in Pennsylvania.

But on Monday night, Kathleen G. Kane, the state’s top prosecutor, became a convicted criminal.

A jury found Ms. Kane, 50, guilty of nine criminal charges, including perjury and criminal conspiracy, convicting her of leaking grand jury information, and then lying about it, in an effort to discredit a political rival.

Ms. Kane was caught up in a web of scandal and counterscandal, threaded with lewd emails, political rivalries and alleged leaks. It has cost other state officials, including two State Supreme Court justices, their jobs and Ms. Kane her law license, although she has remained on the job as attorney general.
Ms. Kane stared straight ahead as the word “guilty,” uttered decisively by a juror in a flowered dress, echoed nine times around the courtroom. The lawyers immediately went into a private conference with the judge, leaving Ms. Kane, who campaigned on a promise to uncover political interference in Pennsylvania, alone at the defense table.

And when Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy returned to the courtroom, she turned directly to Ms. Kane with a stern warning, her words slicing through the silence.

“There is to be absolutely no retaliation of any kind against any witness in this case, either by your own devices, from your own mouth or your hand, or directing anybody to do anything,” the judge said. She threatened Ms. Kane, who is currently free on bail, with immediate incarceration if she failed to comply.

“Is that clear, Ms. Kane?” the judge asked.

“Yes it is, your honor,” Ms. Kane said.
After the verdict, Gov. Tom Wolf immediately renewed his call for her to step down. “The Office of Attorney General and its employees, as well as the people of Pennsylvania deserve to move on,” Mr. Wolf said in a statement.

Gerald Shargel, a lawyer for Ms. Kane, said a decision about her job would be made in the coming days.
To her detractors, she had abused her power and broken the law; to her supporters, she had rousted the state’s old-boys’ network and become a victim herself. But in court, she was silent: Though her defense team cross-examined the prosecution’s witnesses, it rested without calling a single one of its own.

Ms. Kane, who faced nine charges, including two felony perjury counts, criminal conspiracy and obstruction, was accused of leaking secret grand jury documents to the news media in an effort to discredit the prosecutor Frank Fina, and then lying to cover it up.

“‘This is war,’ the defendant’s words,” said the lead prosecutor, Kevin Steele, in reference to an email written by Ms. Kane. “Wars have casualties. Wars leave scars.”

Earlier Monday, in a nearly two-hour closing statement, wrought with text messages, newspaper front pages and grand jury testimony, Mr. Steele painted a picture of Ms. Kane trying to “go on the offensive” after a newspaper article that criticized her for shutting down an undercover investigation into possible corruption by Democratic state representatives. Prosecutors say she believed Mr. Fina was behind the story.

Ms. Kane, he said, sought to leak details from a 2009 grand jury investigation into the financial affairs of J. Whyatt Mondesire, a former leader of the N.A.A.C.P., because she wanted residents to know that Mr. Fina had chosen not to prosecute. She then lied about it when a grand jury investigated, Mr. Steele said.

A defense lawyer, Seth Farber, said the state had not proved its case, urging the jurors not to take Ms. Kane’s words out of context.
Outside the courthouse, Michelle Henry, a prosecutor in the case, said she was “offended” by Ms. Kane’s crimes.

“What she did while she was attorney general — the fact that she committed criminal acts when she’s the top prosecutor — is a disgrace,” Ms. Henry said.

The judge has not yet set a sentencing hearing, but Ms. Kane could face prison time. The two felony perjury charges alone each carry up to seven years in prison.
What a joke for our state, just step down already.

Did a search and saw nothing, convict if old.
 

BigAT

Member
"It has cost other state officials, including two State Supreme Court justices, their jobs and Ms. Kane her law license, although she has remained on the job as attorney general."

I had to read this sentence like three times to make sure I hadn't misread it. How the hell is she still AG?
 

MJPIA

Member
"It has cost other state officials, including two State Supreme Court justices, their jobs and Ms. Kane her law license, although she has remained on the job as attorney general."

I had to read this sentence like three times to make sure I hadn't misread it. How the hell is she still AG?

We're kinda in unchartered water currently.
http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/...icense-suspended-by-court-20150921-story.html

The Commonwealth Attorneys Act says only a licensed member of the bar can be attorney general, according to Bruce Ledewitz, a professor at Duquesne University School of Law with expertise in the Pennsylvania Constitution and court rules.

A suspension is not a disbarment. Suspension would mean Kane at least temporarily could not practice law, but she would remain a lawyer, Ledewitz has said. Still, a suspension could be fatal to Kane's career because it could lead to one of three ways the state constitution says an elected official can be removed from office.

The first is legislative impeachment. The process, which is long and cumbersome, starts in the House and, following a quasi-trial, two-thirds of the 50-member Senate must vote to impeach.

The Republican-controlled Legislature has not seemed enthusiastic about getting involved in Kane's legal wranglings except to call for her to resign.

A quicker way to remove an elected official from office is a quo warranto court action.

Under the constitution, only the attorney general or a county district attorney can file a quo warranto petition. Kane is unlikely to file one against herself. And it is unclear if a county district attorney could -- or would be willing to -- file one against Kane if there is an attorney general's office in his or her jurisdiction.

The third removal option involves the governor and Senate. It is called "direct address" — and it has never been used in Pennsylvania.

The amendment says all elected civil officers, with the exception of the governor, lieutenant governor, lawmakers and judges, "shall be removed by the governor for reasonable cause" after they are given due process notice and the Senate affirms the governor's wishes on a two-thirds majority vote.

There is legal debate in the state about whether the "direct address" starts first with the governor or the Senate. The administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Senate believe the removal process starts in the Senate. However, other law experts think Wolf would have to initiate the process.
 
"It has cost other state officials, including two State Supreme Court justices, their jobs and Ms. Kane her law license, although she has remained on the job as attorney general."

I had to read this sentence like three times to make sure I hadn't misread it. How the hell is she still AG?

even the governor put out a statement last night calling for her to "do the right thing" and resign
 

woolley

Member
"It has cost other state officials, including two State Supreme Court justices, their jobs and Ms. Kane her law license, although she has remained on the job as attorney general."

I had to read this sentence like three times to make sure I hadn't misread it. How the hell is she still AG?
There is no system in place to remove her from her position.
 
"It has cost other state officials, including two State Supreme Court justices, their jobs and Ms. Kane her law license, although she has remained on the job as attorney general."

I had to read this sentence like three times to make sure I hadn't misread it. How the hell is she still AG?
It's an elected position, aside from the revocable requirements for the position, firing an elected official is complicated (and for good reason.)
 
Hopefully they consider the effect prison would have on her and her future and opt to give her probation or something.

Ya know because she ought to have a proper chance at rehabilitation.
 

MJPIA

Member
Kane resigning tomorrow.

Good riddance.

Her statement.
I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I wish them health and safety in all their days
Yes that's the entire thing.

Come Thursday our acting attorney general until the elections will be Bruce L. Castor Jr, a Republican who became PA's Solicitor General back in march since Kane had her law license suspended and needed someone to act in her stead for legal decisions on behalf of PA.
He spent an hour talking to reporters today which already is quite different from Kane.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...nine-criminal-charges/?utm_term=.6d8238b53288
“The conviction on all counts was a crushing blow — I’m not going to say otherwise,” said Gerald Shargel, an attorney for Kane.

The defense intentionally did not have Kane testify. Nor did her legal team call witnesses over the six days of the trial.

“It’s a strategy,” Shargel said. “Obviously we thought that it would work, but I’ll be the first person to say we were wrong.”
That uh worked well.
 
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