HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane took center stage in the state capitol to kick off her public defense against the criminal charges she now faces.
She read a statement that focused mostly on the reason she says power figures in Harrisburg are out to get her.
"It is a story that begins with pornography, racial insensitivity, and religious bigotry."
Kane took no questions. Instead she told a gathering of reporters from around the state she's being targeted by a group of current and former state workers using the courts to keep pornographic and racist emails from becoming public.
"Until now, only a portion of the story has been told," said Kane in her prepared statement.
Kane says her trouble started when offensive emails passed between state workers on state computers. The Scranton native says some of those who passed these emails that triggered a special grand jury investigation that led to Kane's recent arrest.
"Some involved in this filthy email chain have tried desperately to insure that these emails, and more importantly their attachment to it, never see the light of day," said Kane.
Until now, Kathleen Kane's legal battle has been reported as a case of an attorney general, bent on revenge, illegally leaking confidential information, then covering up by lying about it.
Now her story has taken a twist.
Kane says Judge William Carpenter of Montgomery County is using grand jury secrecy laws to keep offensive emails sent on state time and on state computers from being released to the public.
"These individuals believe they are on the precipice of their ultimate goal: the burial, the death and burial, of this email chain and their involvement in it forever," Kane said.
Kane called on Judge Carpenter to release those emails.
Judge Carpenter initiated the investigation into her alleged leaks of confidential grand jury testimony to a newspaper, and appointed a special prosecutor in a case that led to the attorney general's criminal charges in that county.
Judge Carpenter's office in Montgomery County has not commented on Kathleen Kane's request to allow her to release emails.
Wilkes-Barre native and former congressional candidate Gene Stilp says Kathleen Kane's latest defense doesn't matter. Stilp says the attorney general should either step down or be removed from office by being disbarred.
"It's time for Pennsylvania to move on," Stilp said. ''We have to have effective government. She is not part of effective government, there's just a huge cloud there."
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman, the woman leading the prosecution of the attorney general, released this statement:
"The district attorney's office does not respond to comments made by criminal defendants. The Commonwealth will present the evidence of (Kane's) criminal offenses in court."
The Scranton native wrapped up the news conference with a personal note to her two teenage sons, whom she says are following the news and her fight to avoid a criminal conviction.
"No one would blame you if you bypassed the fight. I hope that you stay in it because I'm staying in it."
The attorney general restated her belief that she did not commit a crime, and said again, she will not step down.
Watch Attorney General Kathleen Kane's news conference here:
