Former PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane gets prison term

"During her tenure as attorney general, Kane behaved in a paranoid manner and repeatedly misused
her official authority to advance her personal vendettas," Steele wrote in a sentencing memo,
according to the The Legal Intelligencer.
Before the sentencing, Kane testified on her own behalf, asking the judge to have mercy for the sake
of her two teenage children.
An attorney representing Kane told CNN affiliate KYW that she has deep remorse for violating the
trust of Pennsylvania residents. The attorney argued a prison sentence wouldn't be necessary
because the loss of Kane's position and law career was punishment enough.
Prosecutors, however, said that her crimes -- which they say have tarnished the attorney general's
office and ruined an activist's life in the process -- warranted time behind bars.
Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy handed down the sentence after several hours of testimony, CNN
affiliate KPVI reported.Kane was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and taken to Montgomery
County jail after her sentencing, KYW reported. She posted a $75,000 cash bail and remains free
while she appeals, CNN affiliate WPVI reported.
The charges had alleged that Kane acted in anger about a local newspaper article that accused her
of dropping an investigation into politicians accepting bribes. To get back at her predecessors, the
complaint said Kane leaked sealed, confidential grand jury documents to the media and then lied
under oath.
Prosecutors: Kane should go to jail
But Steele wrote in a sentencing memo that Kane deserved prison since she eroded the public's
confidence in the attorney general's office, according to KYW. Beyond that, Steele noted that
Mondesire, who was never charged of a crime, had lost his job, saw his health decline, and died
nearly two years later.
After the article, Kane leaked sealed, confidential grand jury documents conducted under Fina that
looked into whether J. Wyatt Mondesire, the former leader of the NAACP's Philadelphia chapter,
misused grant money, the complaint said. Fina's investigation never led to criminal charges against
Mondesire, the complaint said.
"It seemed that we had somebody who felt that she was above the law, and that's not the case
because no one is above the law," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said following
the trial. "We are a very honorable profession here. We have rules that we have to abide by and
there are no exceptions to that."
The election will occur statewide on November 8.
CNN's Lorenzo Ferrigno, Catherine E. Shoichet, Lauren del Valle, Kwegyirba Croffie and Lawrence
Crook
contributed to this report.

Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who chairs the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, is running
against state Sen. John Rafferty, a Republican from Montgomery.
Kane, a Democrat who was elected in 2012, faced a possible 12-24 years in prison, according to Kate
Delano, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

A political act of retribution

Pennsylvania residents will soon get a
chance to decide who permanently replaces
Kane when they elect a new attorney
general next month.
Kane, who resigned after her conviction of
perjury and obstruction in August, also will
be on probation for eight years following her
release, according to Kim Bathgate,
spokeswoman for the Office of Pennsylvania
Courts.
Wolf nominated Bruce Beemer, a former
Kane deputy who testified against her, to
become attorney general.
The race for the AG's office
Kane, though, strongly denied the allegations ahead of the trial -- even as Democrats like Gov. Tom
Wolf urged her to resign.
"A resignation would be an admission of guilt and I'm not guilty," Kane said in a statement in August
ahead of her trial.
A jury found Kane guilty of felony counts of perjury and obstruction. She resigned that same week.
Four years ago, Kane, a former assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County, defeated
Republican David Freed as a political rookie.
State Democrats quickly pegged Kane as one of the party's rising stars. But halfway through her
term, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story with the headline: "Sources: Kathleen Kane shut down
probe of Philly Democrats."
That's where the trouble started. The article outlined an investigation launched by Kane's
predecessor, former Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank G. Fina, into politicians caught in a sting
accepting local bribes. In emails cited in the complaint, an irate Kane vowed to wage "war" with
Fina, a criminal complaint later said.
In Kane's sentencing memo, her attorney argued to the judge that the former attorney general has
been punished enough since she had to step down from elected office and could be disbarred given
her status as a now convicted felon. In addition, prosecutors said Kane, who wants to focus on

parenting her two teenage sons, was not at risk of re-offending, nor was she a threat to society.
On Monday, Judge Demchick-Alloy weighed whether Kane would serve time behind bars, remain
under house arrest or simply get probation.
'No one is above the law'
In August 2015, then-Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, a Republican, filed
charges against Kane. Ferman accused the then-attorney general of secretly leaking documents "in
the hopes of embarrassing and harming former state prosecutors whom she believed, without
evidence, had made her look bad."
Ferman also alleged that Kane after had lied under oath to a grand jury about leaking the grand jury
documents to reporters in order to cover her tracks.