AG Kane To Change Hearing Ordered On Prosecutor's Firing

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An attorney for Attorney General Kathleen Kane says she will challenge a judge's order to explain whether her firing of a prosecutor violated his 7-month-old order not to retaliate against witnesses in an investigation into allegations her office leaked secret grand jury information.

Attorney Lanny Davis, an outside lawyer for Kane, said Saturday that "we intend to file papers ... challenging the basis of the order and reiterating that personnel decisions made by Attorney General Kane were entirely based on good faith judgments about improving the efficiency and competency" of the office.

The order for a hearing by Montgomery County Judge William Carpenter, who supervised the grand jury investigation, came two days after Kane's office fired a prosecutor, James Barker, who had testified before the panel.

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