August 26, 2015
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unsealed on Wednesday court documents containing sexually explicit government emails that embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane claims prompted a scheme by two former prosecutors to have her criminally charged.
The released documents included an emergency application Kane filed last year urging the court to dismiss a grand jury investigation of her, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. One court document alleged that Frank Fina and E. Marc Costanza, former state prosecutors who now work for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, manufactured the grand jury investigation to protect their jobs and reputations.
The document alleged the former prosecutors distributed "pornographic, misogynistic, racist, obscene and offensive emails" using state-owned computers for years, the newspaper reported.
Kane faces perjury and related charges for allegedly leaking secret grand jury information to the media in an attempt to embarrass Fina and then lying about it. She was ordered by Magisterial Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar on Monday to stand trial on all eight charges laid out by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
Kane, 49, the highest-ranking female officeholder in the state, has claimed innocence, saying the charges are a cover-up over her investigation of pornographic emails exchanged by government officials.
She applauded the court for releasing the emails in a statement posted to the State Attorney General website.
"While the Supreme Court's releases make moot my office's appeal covering a large part of the Right-To-Know Law (RTKL) requests they do not cover all the attendant materials in the possession of the OAG covered by the RTKL requests," the statement read. "Some of the materials, currently in possession of the OAG, were never submitted to the Supreme Court as part of any proceedings."
Kane added that she has instructed her office to continue its Right-To-Know appeal.
The released documents included emailed images of nude or partially nude women allegedly distributed among employees of the Attorney General's Office under former Attorney General Tom Corbett, according to the Associated Press. Some images depicted women performing sexual acts. Others involved racial stereotypes or other offensive material.
Philadephia District Attorney Seth Williams released a statement regarding the release of the files, which included email exchanges by Fina and Costanza.
"The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has clear human relations policies, so the District Attorney believes that a thorough review is necessary of the email chains and any actions current office employees took in their distribution," Williams said. "We will conclude this review as soon as possible."
The documents seemingly lend some support to claims made Monday by Kane's defense attorney, Gerald Shargel.
During Kane's preliminary court hearing, Shargel alleged Fina had "thousands and thousands" of pornographic images in his emails.
Shargel claimed that information gave Kane a "faster way to retaliate" against Fina than leaking secret grand jury information regarding a long-shelved corruption case involving former Philadelphia NAACP leader J. Whyatt Mondesire. Kane uncovered that information while investigating how Corbett's office handled the Penn State sexual abuse scandal.
Shargel declined to elaborate after the hearing Monday.
The documents released Wednesday also included accusations that Kane surrogates intimidated witnesses as they arrived to testify before the grand jury investigating her, the AP reported.
