The Berks Barrister Summer 2017 - 12

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Shakespeare Primer:
The Tragedy of Kathleen Kane
By Pamela A. DeMartino, Esquire

lthough decades may separate many of our high school
graduation classes, we all share literary experiences
involving the classics, perhaps the most ubiquitous of
which being the works of William Shakespeare. Through the
twisted plot lines of Shakespeare's tragedy plays, we watched
the complexities of life unravel the moral fabric of the world's
greatest literary figures: think Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello.
Shakespeare's canonicity is due in large part to the universality
and timelessness of his characterization of these tragic heroes. As
designed by Shakespeare, the tragic hero resonates with modern
day audiences because these "heroes" continue to live amongst
us. We bear witness to their folly and downfalls which are just
as predictable as the fictional characters portrayed in Elizabethan
Europe. In many ways, the story of Kathleen
Kane reads like a Shakespearean tragedy,
presenting us with an opportunity to bone up
on our British literature.
To begin, the tragic hero must be
renowned and prosperous, and be neither
totally good nor totally evil. We have to be
able to relate to her and she must appeal to us.
Kane's political career took root in her early
years as a litigator in the Attorney General's
office. In 2012, she became the first female
Democrat to win the office of Attorney
General, due in large part to her local
popularity and well-endowed endorsements
from such figures as former President Bill
Clinton. She was attractive, articulate, and
offered the Democratic Party the promise of a
rising star. It was all good.
But, alas, a tragedy aligned with Shakespeare's must develop
subplots, and in Kane's story several abound. The first began in
March 2014, when Kane shut down a sting operation which had
been led by Office of the Attorney General Prosecutor Frank Fina
since 2010. Kane claimed that the investigation was "tainted by
racial targeting," although no evidence of such discriminatory
tactics were ever revealed. Kane took heavy criticism for the

12 | Berks Barrister

shutdown, which marked the beginning of a public feud between
her and Fina. Ultimately, Seth Williams (the Philadelphia DA at
the time) took over the case and obtained a series of guilty pleas
from the very defendants targeted by the sting. (As a side note,
Shakespeare liked the device of a play within a play. Consider the
parallel drama of Seth Williams and his later plea agreement to
fraud and bribery charges!)
The plot thickens with another investigation, this one
spear-headed by Geoffrey Moulton, specially appointed by Kane
to examine the Jerry Sandusky case. Kane believed that thenGovernor Tom Corbett slowed down the prosecution of Sandusky
for political reasons. Interestingly, one of the prosecutors involved
in the Sandusky case was none other than Frank Fina. In June
2014, Moulton published his report finding no
evidence of deliberate obstruction of justice.
However, in the course of scouring thousands
of emails shared in the OAG's database -
SURPRISE - investigators uncovered sexually
explicit communications which gave rise to
the scandal dubbed "Porngate." Implicated
in the emails were Supreme Court Justices
Seamus McCafferty and Michael Eakin, as
well as Frank Fina. McCafferty and Eakin
subsequently resigned from their offices; Fina
moved on to the Philadelphia DA's Office.
(And just how did Fina manage to fly under
the radar throughout all of this?)
A third sub-plot developed when Kane
allegedly leaked information regarding a
2009 Grand Jury investigation. According to
one witness at Kane's criminal trial, "Kane
coordinated with a top deputy and political consultant in late
April and early May 2014 to deliver a package to a reporter at the
Philadelphia Daily News" which disclosed information involving
the former head of the Philadelphia National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, J. Whyatt Mondesire. In May
2014, a Grand Jury was empaneled to investigate this leak which
resulted in a published article by the newspaper in June 2014. The

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The Berks Barrister Summer 2017

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