Kathleen Kane leaked the material to a political operative to pass it on to the media "in hopes of embarrassing and harming former state prosecutors she believed, without evidence, made her look bad," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.
Kane, the first woman elected
attorney general in Pennsylvania, was charged with perjury, obstruction,
conspiracy and other offenses. The 49-year-old Democrat is expected to
surrender within days. Her lawyer said she would plead not guilty to the
charges.
"No one is above
the law, not even the chief law enforcement officer of the state of
Pennsylvania," Ferman said. She called it "a sad day for the citizens of
Pennsylvania and a sad day for all of us in law enforcement."
Kane has portrayed herself as a
victim of payback for taking on a corrupt, old-boy law enforcement
network and exposing state employees for exchanging pornographic emails.
She vowed to stay in office and fight the charges.
"A resignation would be an admission of guilt," she said, "and I'm not guilty."
Her lawyer said in an emailed news release that she did nothing illegal.
"Attorney
General Kane conspired with no one," said Gerald L. Shargel. "At no
time did she believe that she was asking or directing anyone to do
anything improper or unlawful. In explaining her conduct to the grand
jury she uttered no lie."
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