NORRISTOWN >> Embattled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s trial on perjury-related charges will get under way with jury selection on Aug. 8, a judge ruled on Friday.
Montgomery County Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy, after meeting with prosecutors and Kane’s lawyers on Friday, set Kane’s trial date, as well as deadlines for lawyers to submit their pretrial motions.
The lawyers have several pending pretrial issues that must still be resolved. A hearing on pretrial motions will be held March 22, the judge said.
Jury selection, when it does get under way, is expected to be tedious for a case that has garnered statewide attention.
“It’s too early to give you an estimate of that,” District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said when asked how long he anticipated the trial to last.
Kane, 49, a first-term Democrat, faces charges of perjury, obstructing administration of law, abuse of office and false swearing in connection with allegations she orchestrated the illegal disclosure of confidential investigative information and secret grand jury information to the media and then engaged in acts designed to conceal and cover up her alleged conduct.
With the charges, authorities alleged Kane released secret information about the 2009 Investigating Grand Jury No. 29 to a reporter at The Philadelphia Daily News in order to retaliate against a former state prosecutor, Frank Fina, with whom she was feuding and who she believed provided information to The Philadelphia Inquirer to embarrass her regarding a sting operation he was in charge of and which she shut down.
Kane also is accused of lying to the 35th statewide grand jury in November 2014 to cover up her alleged leaks by lying under oath when she claimed she never agreed to maintain her secrecy regarding the 2009 grand jury investigation.
County prosecutors alleged they discovered evidence that Kane signed a so-called “secrecy oath” on her second day in office on Jan. 17, 2013, promising her secrecy for statewide investigating grand juries one through 32. The oath compelled Kane to maintain the secrecy of all matters occurring before past and present statewide grand juries, prosecutors alleged.
Kane has claimed she did nothing wrong and has implied the charges are part of an effort to force her out of office because she discovered pornographic emails being exchanged between state employees on state email addresses.
In the wake of the allegations, Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, called for Kane to resign, which she refused.
Kane, who is represented by defense lawyer Gerald Shargel, has continued to maintain her innocence and vowed to keep fighting to clear her name while serving out the remainder of her term. Kane is up for re-election this year.