The Latest: Ex-attorney general released after posting bail

The Latest: Ex-attorney general released after posting bail


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NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (all times local):

6:25 p.m.

Pennsylvania's former top prosecutor has been released from jail about two hours after she was placed in a holding cell for illegally disclosing details from a grand jury investigation and lying about it under oath.

Former Attorney General Kathleen Kane was ordered Monday to serve 10 to 23 months in county jail in the perjury and obstruction case.

Warden Julio Algarin says Kane was processed and briefly held before she paid her $75,000 bail with a cashier's check shortly before 6 p.m.

A jury this summer found that Kane leaked grand jury material to the press to embarrass a rival and then lied about it under oath. Her attorneys had pushed for probation sentence.

Algarin says the 50-year-old was treated like every other convict brought to the facility.

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3:40 p.m.

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will remain in custody until she posts cash bail following a judge sentencing her to jail.

Kane was sentenced Monday to 10 to 23 months in jail in a perjury and obstruction case. The judge said Kane's ego had driven her to take down enemies and break the law.

Kane was handcuffed in the courtroom before she was led out the side door. Her family declined to comment afterward.

She will remain in custody until she posts $75,000 cash bail, higher than she had previously posted.

No surrender date was given, presuming she does post bail.

The 50-year-old Democrat was convicted in August of two felony charges of perjury and seven misdemeanor charges.

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3:30 p.m.

The first woman elected Pennsylvania's top prosecutor has been sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail for illegally disclosing details from a grand jury investigation to embarrass a rival and then lying about it under oath.

Former Attorney General Kathleen Kane was also sentenced Monday to eight years of probation. The judge told Kane her children were "collateral damages" of her own actions.

In the final year of her first term, the 50-year-old was convicted Aug. 15 of two felony charges of perjury and seven misdemeanor charges. She resigned the next day.

Kane's lawyers had argued the loss of her career, law license and reputation was punishment enough. They said she needed to be home to raise her two sons.

Kane was also the first Democrat elected attorney general.

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2:05 p.m.

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane says her two sons have been struggling since her conviction in her perjury and obstruction trial.

Kane was found guilty of leaking grand jury documents to embarrass a rival and then lying about it under oath. She is due to be sentenced Monday. She is seeking probation or house arrest. Prosecutors are asking for jail time.

She says in court, "I really don't care what happens to me."

But, she says: "There is no more torture in the world than to watch your children suffer and know you had something to do with it."

Kane says her 14-year-old son, Zachary, didn't attend the sentencing because "he couldn't even bear it." Her 15-year-old son, Chris, asked a judge for leniency for his mother earlier Monday.

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1:45 p.m.

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane says the agonizing wait to learn her sentence in a perjury and obstruction case has been like "watching the potential funeral of your own family."

Kane faces a sentence Monday that could range from probation to a lengthy prison term in a felony case prompted by a political feud.

A jury found Kane leaked grand jury documents to embarrass a rival and then lied about it under oath. Her lawyers plan to appeal.

Kane told a judge that she ran for the office to help people, not to seek power or carry out any personal agenda.

Kane says she doesn't want her two sons to join the vulnerable group of high-risk children with mothers in prison.

Kane shares joint custody with her estranged husband.

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12:15 p.m.

Former deputies in the Pennsylvania attorney general's office are describing a workplace demoralized by Kathleen Kane's leadership.

They spoke Monday ahead of sentencing for the former attorney general in her perjury and obstruction case.

A jury found Kane leaked grand jury material to the media to embarrass a rival and then lied about it under oath.

Former deputy Clarke Madden says a dark cloud permeated every corner of the office as victims, witnesses and other law enforcement agencies feared working with them after the investigation of the grand jury leak became public.

Current Chief Deputy Attorney General Erik Olsen says Kane created a "terror zone" in her office "through a pattern of systematic firings and Nixonian espionage."

Prosecutors want Kane sent to jail; she is seeking probation or house arrest.

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Noon

The 15-year-old son of former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has testified as one of her character witnesses ahead of her sentencing in a perjury and obstruction case.

Chris Kane called her "his rock" and said "it would be tough for all of us" if she went to jail. The teenager said Monday that he had decided to testify "because things weren't looking good." Prosecutors declined to cross-examine him.

The other defense witnesses included a retired police chief and Roman Catholic priest who said Kathleen Kane had been the rare politician to make inroads to address drug-related crime in Hazleton. Kane's college-age niece also testified to the help Kane offered when she struggled with an eating disorder.

Kane has requested probation or house arrest at her sentencing.

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1:15 a.m.

Supporters of Democrat Kathleen Kane once hoped the ambitious lawyer might reach the U.S. Senate.

But the one-term Pennsylvania attorney general instead will learn Monday whether she's going to jail in a perjury and obstruction case that stemmed from a political feud.

The case is being heard in Montgomery County, where former President Bill Clinton stumped for her in 2012.

Kane's lawyers say she has been punished enough after losing her career, law license and reputation. They will ask for probation or house arrest so she can raise her teenage sons.

But Democratic District Attorney Kevin Steele calls the case "egregious" and will seek jail time.

A jury this summer found Kane leaked grand jury material to the press to embarrass a rival and then lied about it under oath.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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