Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane to Resign Following Conviction

Her manipulation of the Attorney General’s Office only added to the belief of many that government, particularly law enforcement, too often doesn’t work for the people.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Tuesday she will resign, according to a statement from her office. “I implore Attorney General Kane to do what is right: put the commonwealth’s residents first and step down fromoffice”.

“While there is no simple procedure to remove a civil officer, the Office of Attorney General and its employees, as well as the people of Pennsylvania, deserve to move on”.

The Republican candidate seeking to replace Kane – state Sen.

Castor could lead the attorney generals office up until next January – when a newly elected AG takes over – but that is not guaranteed.

Kane’s conviction and subsequent resignation represents a dramatic turn of fortune for the 50-year-old former county prosecutor who was the first woman and first Democrat elected as attorney general in Pennsylvania. Text messages and phone records show frequent interactions among them on key days in the prosecution’s timeline: when the documents changed hands, when the Philadelphia Daily News article appeared and when a grand jury started to investigate the leak.

Kane listened to the jury’s verdict with very little emotion.

“I would have done the same thing”, he said.

State data on Montgomery County sentences for 2015 show Demchick-Alloy is, overall, a middle-of-the-road judge for her county.

On Tuesday, Wolf called Kane’s situation “unfortunate”.

Perjury, which is a serious charge, can alone carry a penalty of seven years in prison.

“That would be for a judge to decide. Not just to them, but to the citizens of this commonwealth and I am glad to see that the end is just finally in sight”, she said. Pat Stefano, R-Fayette County.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, who had been trying to get Kane impeached long before she was charged in the grand jury case, was unequivocal.

She won in a landslide and earned early praise from Democrats for refusing to defend a legal challenge to the state’s gay marriage ban. That law was eventually overturned by a federal court.

Sentences imposed in 77 percent of the 600 cases she handled previous year were within the standard range set out by the guidelines.

“She should have resigned months ago”, he said. Details of the investigation turned up in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2014.

Pennsylvania State Attorney General Kathleen Kane was supposed to enforce the law, not break it. Following the conviction, ABC reports that her resignation is effective on Wednesday.

Kane’s attorney, Gerald Shargel, declined comment when asked by PennLive Tuesday whether he’d specifically urged Kane – who still plans to appeal her conviction – to resign in the wake of the jury’s verdict.

She lost her law license over the charges and is fighting pressure to step down.

At trial, Steele and co-prosecutor Michelle Henry alleged Kane orchestrated the illegal release of secret materials pertaining to the 2009 statewide grand jury No. 29 to a reporter in order to exact “revenge” on a former state prosecutor with whom she was feuding.

The same prosecutors involved in the Philadelphia investigations oversaw the Sandusky case.

The judge has released Kane on bail after requiring her to forfeit her passport to prevent her from leaving the country.

“It is time to bring honor and respect back to the office of the attorney general”, Gleason said.