• Perjury (one count) • False swearing (one count) • Obstructing administration of law (three counts) • Official oppression in connection with grand jury leaks (four counts)[1]
Penalty
10–23 month incarceration
Kathleen Margaret Kane (née Granahan)[2] is an American former politician and lawyer who served as the attorney general of Pennsylvania from 2013 until her resignation in 2016, following her conviction for perjury, obstruction of justice, and related charges for illegal activities while she was attorney general.[3] She was the first woman and first Democrat ever elected to the position.[4][5][6]
In August 2015, Kane was charged with multiple offenses related to her position as attorney general, including a felony perjury charge, and an array of misdemeanors that included official oppression, obstruction, and related conspiracy charges.[7] In September 2015, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania suspended Kane's license to practice law, the first such occurrence for a Pennsylvania attorney general.[8][9] On August 15, 2016, Kane was convicted of all charges, including two felony perjury charges, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice,[10][11] and she announced her resignation the following day, effective August 17.[12] Four months after her imprisonment was sanctioned, Kane was disbarred by the Supreme Court.[13]
On November 29, 2018, she reported to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility to begin serving her 10–to-23-month prison term after having exhausted her appeal efforts. On July 31, 2019, Kane was released from Montgomery County Prison.[14] On April 30, 2022, she was taken back into custody for an alleged violation of probation by driving under the influence.[15]
Kane appointed former federal prosecutor H. Geoffrey Moulton Jr. to investigate Governor Tom Corbett's handling of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal (an investigation which showed that no legal wrongdoing by Corbett took place), and brought criminal charges against former turnpike officials (and then dealt plea bargains with the accused parties, which resulted in none of the accused serving any jail time). Kane made national headlines in July 2013, when she refused to defend Pennsylvania's gay marriage prohibition in court.[23]
On March 17, 2014, Kane announced that she had shut down a corruption investigation begun under her predecessor, saying that "the undercover investigation was poorly managed and badly executed, and relied on an undercover operative whose credibility had been compromised."[citation needed] Kane also asserted she had documentation to support her assertion that racism marred the sting.[24] The investigation was following up on reports of corruption among current Philadelphia politicians, all of the suspects belonged to the Democratic Party. In response, the Committee of Seventy called on the state legislature to designate an independent counsel to investigate the closing of the case.[25][26] Local prosecutors in Philadelphia picked up the case, and secured a number of guilty pleas as well as grand jury indictments.
Child sex abuse investigation
As part of renewed attention in the state to Catholic Church child sexual abuse and cover-up accusations, Kane initiated a statewide grand jury—starting toward establishment in early 2014[27]—and a hotline which garnered another 250 cases to investigate. Some twenty troopers operated the phones and assistant AG Daniel J. Dye led the case in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and was still sifting the other reports in 2016. State Representative Thomas R. Caltagirone, minority chairman of the Judiciary Committee and former opponent of legislation to extend the statute of limitations for the crimes, had come to favor such legislation in 2016.[28] National Catholic Register criticized Kane's handling of the sex abuse scandal in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, as charges still could have been filed against individuals who had taken part in a hush money ring which was created by former Bishop Joseph Adamec, and noted that she herself was a Catholic.[29]
2016 election
Kane was mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for the 2016 U.S. Senate election against Republican incumbent Pat Toomey.[30][31] However, Kane declined to run, instead announcing that she would seek a second term as attorney general in 2016.[32][33] She later announced that she would not run for re-election.[34]
Criminal investigation, trial, conviction, resignation, and disbarment
Indictment and suspension of license to practice law
Beginning in 2014, a grand jury investigated the leaking of two memos which allegedly came from Kane's office: one from a 2009 grand jury investigation, and an internal memo leaked to the Philadelphia Daily News which outlined details of the 2009 investigation.[35] The leaks came at a time when Kane was under intense criticism for failure to effectively prosecute Democrats, both in a bribery sting investigation in Philadelphia, and a pay-to-play scandal involving the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Kane believed former state prosecutor Frank Fina was behind a March 2014 story in the Inquirer that disclosed that she had secretly shut down a sting investigation that had recorded Philadelphia Democrats accepting cash, money orders, or gifts from an undercover operative. Fina, for many years the head of corruption cases for the Attorney General's Office, launched the sting before Kane took office in 2013.
After the Philadelphia Daily News article, Kane orchestrated a leak of confidential grand jury information about an investigation once run by Fina, one that she believed showed he had failed to aggressively pursue corruption allegations against the onetime head of the Philadelphia NAACP.
In searching for information to discredit Fina, she discovered a trove of emails containing pornography and other offensive content that were exchanged among state prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges, including two former Supreme Court justices. Porngate, as it came to be called, led to the retirements or resignations of more than a half-dozen high-profile public officials, including onetime Supreme Court Justices Seamus P. McCaffery and J. Michael Eakin. Kane said repeatedly that she believed her criminal case was "corruptly manufactured" by a club of "good ol' boys" bent on preventing her from making those emails public – although many of them were eventually released.[36]
On January 21, 2015, it was made public that the grand jury recommended criminal charges related to these leaks against Kane for "perjury, false swearing, official oppression and obstruction of law."[35]
On August 6, Kane was charged by Montgomery CountyDistrict AttorneyRisa Vetri Ferman with one count of perjury, one count of false swearing, three counts of obstructing administration of law, and four counts of official oppression in connection with the grand jury leaks. That same day, Governor Tom Wolf publicly called on Kane to resign.[1] However, Kane denied the charges and announced that she would not resign.[37]
On August 24, Kane was ordered to stand trial on charges she leaked secret grand jury information to the press, lied under oath about it and ordered aides to illegally snoop through computer files to keep tabs on an investigation into the leaks. The leak, it was stated, was done to embarrass rival prosecutors involved in the case. Prosecutors called two witnesses—a top Kane aide and the lead investigator in the case against her—whose testimony paralleled a 42-page probable cause affidavit filed against her.
On September 21, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously suspended Kane's license to practice law, as a result of the criminal charges.[38][39] Although the Constitution of Pennsylvania requires the attorney general to be a licensed attorney, the court said in its order that it was not removing Kane from office.[40] Subsequently, Kane appointed former Montgomery County District Attorney and County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor, Jr., a Republican, as Solicitor General of Pennsylvania to assume her executive decision making authority, a position Castor retained until becoming acting attorney general for a period after Kane resigned, and before Democratic Governor Tom Wolf could appoint Bruce Beemer to the post. Castor remained in service to Beemer, reverting to his role as solicitor general for several weeks before resigning to return to the private sector.
On October 1, prosecutors filed an additional perjury charge against Kane. This second charge related to the alleged violation of a secrecy oath that Kane signed in January 2013, also relating to grand jury leaks.[41]
In continuing as attorney general with a suspended license, Kane delegated legal responsibilities to her top advisers. On November 1, 2015, Kane announced a team of special prosecutors to lead the 'Porngate' investigation at the National Constitution Center.[42]
Trial, conviction, resignation from office, and disbarment
Kane's criminal trial began on August 8, 2016.[43] One week later, on August 15, she was convicted on all nine counts.[44][45] The next day, Kane announced her resignation as attorney general, effective August 17. State Solicitor General Bruce Castor, Kane's second-in-command, became acting Attorney General once her resignation took effect. Sentencing for her case took place on October 24, 2016, where she received a term of 10–23 months in prison.[46]
A tribunal of judges on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed her conviction in May 2018. The court rejected her arguments that the special prosecutor lacked legitimacy and that she should have been allowed to present evidence of a child pornography scandal in the Attorney General's office.[47] She was ordered to report to the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania prison on November 29.[48] Four months after her imprisonment was sanctioned, Kane was disbarred by the supreme court.[13]
Personal life
Kane lived in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, with her husband Chris Kane, an executive and co-owner in his family's trucking and warehouse company. They have two sons.[17] She filed for divorce in family court in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, on December 26, 2014.[49]
In October 2014, Kane said she was suffering from a concussion she sustained in a car crash.[50][51][52]
In March 2022, she was arrested for DUI after a two-car collision involving her car about 3 miles from her house in Scranton. She failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer test. She then checked herself into addiction recovery center for 45 days, after which she was incarcerated since the DUI represented a violation of her probation conditions. In May 2022, after she admitted violating her probation,[53] a judge revoked her probation and ordered her into treatment.[54]
^Bohman, Dave (February 16, 2016). "Kane Will Not Seek Second Term". WNEP-TV. Retrieved February 17, 2016. And the recently divorced mother of two sons says she has a more important job. 'While this was not an easy decision for me; while I love Pennsylvania, I love my sons first. I'm a mother first and foremost.'
^"The Constitution of Pennsylvania, Article IV Section 5". Legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved December 31, 2015.("No person shall be eligible to the office of Attorney General except a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania")
