Pennsylvania AG leaked documents for revenge, prosecutor says in opening statement
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaked grand jury documents to take revenge on a rival and then lied about it, a prosecutor said in opening statements on Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Michelle Henry argued that Kane leaked documents about a case that wasn’t pursued by former state prosecutor Frank Fina because she believed him to be responsible for a news article about her decision to drop a corruption case. The Morning Call, Triblive and Pennlive (in stories here and here) have coverage.
“Revenge is best served cold. Her words. The defendant’s words. That’s what this case is about, revenge,” Henry said.
Kane is being tried on charges that include false swearing, perjury and obstruction. She has claimed the charges are fallout from her office’s “Porngate” probe of sexually explicit, racist and sexist emails sent on state computers. But Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy has barred Kane’s lawyers from introducing any evidence that the prosecution was vindictive and selective.
Opening arguments by Kane’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, drew two objections from prosecutors as he “veered closer to the ‘selective and vindictive prosecution’ argument,” Pennlive reports. The second time, Demchick-Alloy called the lawyers to her chambers for a sidebar.
Shargel told jurors that Kane had met Fina only once or twice and she had no reason to seek revenge against him. “It just does not make sense that she would risk her reputation and her career,” he said.
Kane didn’t know a file about Fina’s dropped case contained grand jury materials, Shargel told jurors. And Kane made “a couple honest mistakes” when testifying before the grand jury, but she did not lie, Shargel said.
