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Kane Faces Trial Next Year

NORRISTOWN — In the last week, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been in court for an appeal on Jerry Sandusky’s conviction and she...
kane

NORRISTOWN -- In the last week, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been in court for an appeal on Jerry Sandusky's conviction and she's been the subject of a state senate committee deciding if she should continue in office.

On Tuesday, Kane was in court in Montgomery County.

Kane was already set to be tried on charges she engineered a leak of confidential information to a newspaper and lied to a grand jury about it.

A judge ruled on Tuesday that she can now be tried on a second perjury charge.

The attorney general had nothing to say as she headed into a Montgomery County courtroom. Her lawyer tried to keep Kane, a Scranton native, from facing a second perjury charge.

After a raid on her Harrisburg office in September, agents found a copy of an oath promising not to reveal any confidential information from a grand jury. She signed the oath three days after taking office in 2013.

"I don't think there's any question that she was overwhelmed at the time," said Kane's attorney Gerald Shargel. "I don't think there's anyone in this room that wouldn't be overwhelmed at the time stepping in to that position."

But a judge ruled that's not enough to keep the perjury charge from going to trial.

Kane now faces charges that she arranged to leak confidential information to a newspaper, lied to a grand jury about it, and committed a second act of perjury by violating the secrecy oath she signed.

A trial will be scheduled for Kane next year where she'll face two felony perjury counts and face up to five years in prison on each count if convicted.

Despite that, her lawyer says there will be no plea deal.

"People who know the facts of this case know that it's a case in search of a case. There is no case here."

Kane and her attorneys said nothing about the state senate committee holding hearings to debate whether to remove her from office.

These lawyers are focusing on efforts in the courtroom.

Another hearing is scheduled in January.

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