Prosecutor and Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele presented his closing argument today.
Steele focused on Kane’s statement that her feud with Frank Fina was a “war”.
“As you all know wars have casualties,” he told the jury. “Wars leave scars. And over the course of the last week, you’ve gotten to see some of those casualties.”
According to Wallace McKelvey of the Patriot-News, Steele countered the defense’s ninety minute closing with a nearly two hour performance.
He attempted to combat attempts by Kane’s team to make the issue Adrian King and Josh Morrow.
“You’re not here to decide Adrian King. You’re not here to decide Josh Morrow,” he said. “This is about the Commonwealth of P.A. and the defendant Kathleen Kane.”
Steele finished by reminding jurors about the subject of the leak, J. Whyatt Mondesire, who passed away last year.
“Mr. Mondesire was never arrested,” Steele declared. “He was never arrested. But she put it out. And that is not permitted under the law. That affected him.”
The jury is set to begin deliberations later this afternoon.
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36 Responses
Robert-
“It seems clear that Grand Jury testimony was disclosed illegally”
Well it was in the case against her, but no one prosecuting/persecuting her seems to care about that.
well marie again reveals that she ignores the paper trail, texts, FBI wiretaps , notary records, and witness testimony that just doesn’t suit her view of kane as an innocent martyr. maybe she’s kane’s mother. ( we know DD is not kane’s father. )
Robert, she could have helped herself by denying her accusers’ account, but she’d be committing perjury again.
It seems clear that Grand Jury testimony was disclosed illegally. The issue then is “Whodunit?” and it seems everything points to Kathleen Kane. Let us see if the jurors see it that way.
DD- please lookup the meaning of “hearsay” is as others have asked. Kane stated she did not sign the secrecy oath. Her administrative assistant produces the document with her signature. One can testify as to what that person said to him (her). One cannot testify as to what someone heard someone else said. Your idea of the phone call is stupid because he continues to lie. He only admits his lies and his scheme with Kane after he hears the tape not before. There is so much more direct evidence in this trial. Not that she is required to but she chose NOT to refute anything in court as we were led to believe from her months ago. She has ruined many lives including her own. She got in over her head. My only regret is that the unindicted co-conspirators still have jobs. They should have been fired immediately as they have lost all credibility themselves and as such can be resurrected if they ever attempt to testify at trial.
This sklaroff cat is a loon. Kane IS hot.
Sklaroff – I agree with the comment on that Neesworks article.
another perspective…
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/96342-attorney-generals-defense-my-top-aides-leaked-files-lied-updated?linktype=hp_impact&mc_cid=2e3dc228f2&mc_eid=74b2c5b05e
anyone wanna predict a verdict by tomorrow-noon?
HaHaHa, where is this hot AG that you speak of? You are either blind or have really bad luck with the ladies if you think KK is hot.
Jury’s 1st question bad news for Kane.
Roger – what do you know about the Feds investigating Seth Williams and Frank Fina? Are indictments coming soon?
Seems to me the car is being driven by the clowns in the DAs Office. Why did they need to get a prosecutor from another county? Nobody there is good enough? How come they had to hire the Philly 1st ADA? Nobody on staff good enough left? And why forgive all the liars in the grand jury to force them to testify against Kane or face prison themselves? Pifer, Morrow? Who else was required to say what the DA wanted them to say to avoid jail, just to hatchet Kane? If they lose it will be because the jury hates using conspirators as witnesses. It is a fact that King, Pifer, Morrow all committed crimes. You have to believe them to convict Kane. Talk about a clown car? All this buildup to admitted multiple liar Morrow, jilted lover King, and incompetent snooping unedited conconspirator Pifer, to bring down the AG? How far the DAs Office has fallen there. Once revered. Now laughed at…universally. What Ferman and Steele have done is so sad.
Michael
“And you are (as usual) stretching to explain why Morrow would make up a story that he had didn’t know others were listening to”
The first rule of committing a crime, is to assume the phones are tapped and make statements to make you look innocent.
Duh.
Settle down, children. Daddy is here!!
I am trying to decide what I want to happen here. On the one hand – it seems that Kane MIGHT have authorized the release of GJ material. The “I was a housewife” excuse is bull-shit.
On the other hand – there has to be a way for Kane to expose a corrupt prosecutor like Frank Fina. And, MIGHT doesn’t cut it in a criminal case.
If I was sure she did it, I might not care that this prosecution was clearly a political hatchet-job.
But – all things considered, you gotta root for the hot, well-intentioned AG over the CLOWN CAR who sent e-mails like this one:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zadock1/3580634808
How friggin’ racist is Frank Fina?
Fuck you guys. I’m HaHaHa.
No – I am HaHaHa
Wait …. I am HaHaHa !!!
Don’t worry, HaHaHa, Obama’s FBI is already investigating her foundation and its shady dealings with foreign countries. But go on believing in the white purity of Kane and Clinton.
After this trial, we will go after Hillary. There has to be something we can prosecute her for too.
The prosecution needed to get Kane so badly that it gave immunity to the already admitted liar Morrow a whole year after charging her. That begs the question of what would have happened if Morrow had not gotten immunity that second time the day before testifying? Steele and Co. would have lost. He had to offer total non prosecution to Morrow to win and Morrow had to say whatever Steele wanted to avoid arrest! You have to be thinking desperation on Steels’s part. If he comes away from this with a loss or only a minor victory, his political career will depend on Cosby. Does anyone really think that woman is ever coming back into the U.S. again knowing the beating she will take? A subpoena won’t work in Canada. Steele had to give away everything to get Morrow to lie some more, because Steele’s career is on the line. Big time. The guy makes legal decisions based on public opinion. Disgraceful. Just like the DA in Baltimore with those cops. And we say how that turned out. Or the DA in Duke lax player case. Steele is just another DA with his finger in the air feeling how the winds of the voters are blowing.
Like my new screen-name?
I’m still waiting to hear the prevailing theories of the Kooky Kathleen Kane Krowd about the jury. In a matter of hours, you’re going to be saying all kinds of nasty things about those jurors, so please give me a preview about how they are all aligned with Frank Fina and Tom Corbett. For some reason, you’re all being very silent about the jury so far.
Michael is another idiot jinxing this !!!
I now have no doubt this will be an acquittal. Plus – everyone knows the jury can’t use Morrow’s phone call to a “friend” (that he very well may have known was being recorded) against Kane. Now if they had Kane on the phone call – that would be a different story.
With regard to Morrow, the jury will be told that he is a “corrupt and polluted” source. Doesn’t get much worse than that.
Again, Diano, you show that you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s not hearsay under the rules of evidence when the declarant (here, Kane) is the one whom the statement is used against. The rationale is that she has every opportunity to present evidence to the contrary about the statement. But she didn’t. Because there is no other side of the story.
And you are (as usual) stretching to explain why Morrow would make up a story that he had didn’t know others were listening to. Everyone close to Kane — regardless of whether they got along with each other — agreed that Kane was was determined to leak grand jury documents and cover it up. Why would all of those people close to Kane just make up a story about that? Even Kane admitted at one point that she leaked the documents for the purpose of “transparency.” She got caught, and now she’s going to be punished.
Has Kane been acquitted yet? No need for the Jury to be home last for dinner.
Unfortunately for Kevin Steele, Kane is not on trial for “starting a war” with a political enemy. He actually needed to prove she illegally leaked something. He failed. Game over. Not guilty.
Michael-
The entire case is pretty much hearsay (and serial perjury by the key witnesses against Kane). The FBI tape could mean that Morrow was making up a story for his friend in hopes of getting help later. It doesn’t even match other stuff he testified to previously. So, they gave him immunity if he switched his story to match one he told a friend.
Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!
Agree with MR.
Steele wants the jury to focus on the sizzle because there is no steak.
They have no evidence that Kane illegally leaked anything. So – they are using stuff that shows she wanted to expose Fina as evidence she illegally leaked something to do so.
It’s not going to work. Juries are smart. They will see through the smoke and mirrors. The D.A. has no real evidence. Only innuendo.
Bucks Co, you can’t expect jurors to ignore KK’s text messages and the FBI’s recorded phone call. You can’t expect jurors to ignore “this is war,” “where’s my story? I’m dying here…”, and “If I get taken out of here in handcuffs,…”
The jury most certainly has to decide if King and Mortow are credible. What is Steele even talking about? The judge will instruct the jury that they need to decide the credibility of the government’s witnesses. Steele seems to be trying to distance himself from his own witnesses.
This is bad. Very bad.
@ d2:
As usual, your “Stretches” are unconvincing, even upon cursory review.
The “revenge” emerged in AG-Kane’s world, regardless of what anyone else had done and regardless of whether she had sufficient self-awareness to sense her having triggered it [via the Sandusky botch-job review].
You did correct your grammatical error before I had a chance to point-out your misconduct, so hope springs eternal that you will atone for other mistakes.
Steele pretending Kane killed Mondesire is pretty weak!! Jurors generally don’t take kindly to that kind of nonsense.
You can’t just expect jurors to ignore that your own witnesses are PROVEN LIARS.
This should be a quick Not Guilty.
Diano, you clearly don’t know what hearsay is under the Rules of Evidence. Then again, you don’t know much about anything. And you don’t mind proving it on a daily basis.
Typo: effect, not affect
Steele: “It’s not about my star witnesses, who are serial perjurers.”
Kane started the war? That makes no f*cking sense. If their theory of the case is that Kane was retaliating in revenge, then (logically) Fina started the war.
The affect on Mondesire is hearsay, and Steele juxtaposing his death is a blatant attempt to imply a causal relationship.
Another [balanced] version of what happened c/o BB:
http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/10970800-74/kane-morrow-jury
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Among the half-dozen stories on this website on this issue, the one that has the most commentary [222 entries] is this one:
https://www.politicspa.com/breaking-political-operative-says-kane-leaked-info-lied-about-it/77733/#comments
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Deliberations started.