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Trial Begins For Aide Of Pa. Attorney General In Montgomery County

By Jim Melwert

NORRISTOWN, Pa., (CBS) -- The trial of Patrick Reese, a top aide and confidant of embattled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, is underway in Montgomery County. Reese is charged with violating a protective order related to a Grand Jury investigation.

The bench trial in front of Montgomery County judge William Carpenter got underway with testimony from three high-ranking members of the Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane's office: Bruce Beemer, David Peifer, and Laura Ditka. An overview of sorts of how the protective order was received in the office and employees of the office, who knew about it and when.

Patrick Reese is part Kane's security detail, often her driver, and according to testimony, one of Kane's most trusted employees in the office.

He's charged with criminal contempt for violating a protective order; searching a computer system for information about who was testifying in front of a Grand Jury investigating Kane for allegedly leaking secret grand jury information. Kane, of course, continues to fight those charges.

Reese's lawyer has argued his client was unaware of the protective order, and he says there is no evidence his client was ever served with it.

 

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