District attorney to add prosecutor’s firing to Kane probe

Montgomery County’s district attorney is adding the circumstances surrounding the firing of a state prosecutor to her investigation into Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman issued a brief statement Tuesday, a day after Montgomery County judges referred the matter to her office.

Ferman is already reviewing a grand jury’s findings that Kane unlawfully leaked secret material from a 2009 investigation.

Kane is also accused by the special prosecutor who ran the grand jury of firing prosecutor James Barker because he testified in the leak investigation.

The judges say it’s possible Barker’s firing violated retaliation and official oppression laws.

Kane has said she didn’t authorize the leak of protected information and says Barker’s firing wasn’t retaliatory, but part of a staff reorganization. She hasn’t been charged.