Penn. Attorney General Kathleen Kane convicted of perjury

A jury on Monday convicted Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane of all counts in her politically charged perjury trial stemming from allegations that she leaked grand jury information, a prosecutor's spokeswoman said.

The jurors deliberated for little more than five hours before deciding that Kane, a Democrat, had leaked the information to a reporter in a bid to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

Kane's conviction in the case that has riveted Pennsylvania for a year was confirmed by Kate Delano, spokeswoman for Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Governor Tom Wolf called on Kane to resign immediately. "I implore Attorney General Kane to do what is right: put the commonwealth’s residents first and step down from office,” the Democrat said in a statement.

Kane was alleged to have attempted to gain revenge against former prosecutor Frank Fina by leaking grand jury information to a reporter to embarrass him and then lied about it.

Kane faces up to seven years in prison.

During the trial in Norristown, outside Philadelphia, Kane's lawyers argued that she intended to make a legal leak of information to the press and did not know her aides would include grand jury material.

They contended she made "honest mistakes" when testifying to the grand jury, but did not intentionally lie. Kane did not testify in her own defense.

(Writing by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)