NORRISTOWN -- "This is war."

Thus began the closing argument of Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, citing an email message Kane wrote to a political consultant in advance of an alleged leak of secret grand jury materials. Kane, he said, leaked the documents to get back at former prosecutors she saw as enemies.

"As you know, wars have casualties," Steele said, his voice rising gradually from a whisper to a shout. "Wars leave scars. And, over the course of the last week, you've gotten to see some of those casualties."

The prosecutor recounted the testimony of Catherine Hicks, the business partner and fiancee of J. Whyatt Mondesire. The leak of a 2009 grand jury investigation that never resulted in charges against the Philadelphia NAACP president took a toll on his reputation and his health, she said. He died last year.

And Kane's war, Steele said, affected current and former employees of Kathleen Kane who "all of the sudden see their name in the newspaper" and who risked their livelihoods to share evidence with the prosecution team.

The simple fact, he argued, is that prosecutors -- even the attorney general -- have a duty to uphold the law and keep their oaths. If they don't, he said, people can get hurt.

"You may not release grand jury investigations," he said. "You may not release (the content of) criminal investigations."

Steele's closing argument came after a 90-minute presentation by Kane defense attorney Seth Farber, who argued that prosecutors had not proven its case. In his own nearly 2-hour-long closing, the prosecutor asked the jury to use their "common sense" in evaluating the facts of the case.

The prosecutor walked the jury through the charges and a timeline of the case, starting with the grand jury oath Kane signed on Jan. 17, 2013, shortly after taking office that bound her to all previous investigating grand juries.

Kane would later testify that she did not have to sign such retroactive oaths, a statement that her defense team called a "simple mistake." It nonetheless resulted in a perjury charge after a secretary who notarized the oaths brought them to the attention of a trusted superior and, in turn, to Kane's criminal prosecutors.

Those prosecutors argued that Kane blamed a former AG's office attorney, Frank Fina, for Mar. 16, 2014, article exposing Kane's decision to shut down a sting of state lawmakers. Within a week of that article, a top Kane aide recorded an interview with the agent in charge of the Mondesire investigation, which had been shut down by Fina.

Kane directed the release of the Mondesire information in her own words, Steele said.

"When you go to evaluate the evidence in this case," he said, "don't lose sight of how straightforward it is."

Steele cited an email exchange between Kane and her first deputy, Adrian King, from several days later, in which King raised concerns about her hiring a private law firm to handle all media requests involving criminal investigations. King told his boss that he believed the measure was ill-advised and quite possibly illegal.

"And I am well aware of the limitations of disclosing criminal files and the Wiretap Act," Kane responded. "I have been in this business for quite sometime."

"Then you know the rules," Steele said, after reading the emails. "Clearly."

At about the same time, another top aide, David Peifer left the only printed transcript of his interview with the Mondesire investigation with Kane.

Adrian King, former first deputy to the attorney general. CLEM MURRAY / Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News

On April 22, Steele said, Kane decided to release the transcript and other grand jury materials from the Mondesire. He cited Kane's own testimony before a 2014 grand jury: "Adrian and I then said, 'well, then let's put it out into the press, and we did'."

Responding directly to the closing arguments of Kane's defense attorney, Seth Farber, Steele asked the jury to consider what testimony was corroborated in evidence when they decide which witnesses are credible.

Prosecutors did not choose King and political consultant Joshua Morrow as witnesses, Steele said. Kane chose them to facilitate the release of the documents.

"These are people she chose," Steele said, citing Kane's phone calls and texts with Morrow that the consultant said pertained to the leak of the Mondesire documents.

The prosecutor then played the FBI wiretap recording of a conversation Morrow had with another politico, John Lisko, seeking advice on Kane's leak request. The FBI had been recording Lisko's line as part of an unrelated investigation.

"Kathleen is unhinged," Morrow said, in the recording. "She doesn't even have a strategy to do this -- just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks."

Steele said the language Morrow used in the call--that Kane called about documents that King had that she wanted to leak out--makes it clear that Kane knew what she was orchestrating.

"This has such a ring of credibility to it," the prosecutor said.

Lisko advised his friend against getting involved, but Morrow did so anyway--because, he testified, he considered Kane a close friend and he felt protective of her.

The next day, Morrow retrieved the package, and it was then delivered to Philadelphia Daily News reporter Chris Brennan about two weeks later.

Steele said Kane and Morrow stayed in touch over the days and weeks that Brennan was working on the story.

Morrow texted Kane: "What's the saying about revenge?"

"Best served cold," Kane replied. "Are we eating out soon?"

"They got up here and told you that was about going out to dinner," Steele said, referencing the defense team's interpretation of the exchange. "Really?"

Morrow went on to detail his conversation with Brennan, noting that the Daily News had "four reporters on it."

"Josh, you really get things done," Kane replied.

Kathleen Kane political consultant Joshua Morrow.

Kane's defense attorneys, however, have argued that Kane never said anything explicitly acknowledging Mondesire or the leak from his grand jury investigation.

"Please," Steele said. "As you go through this, don't throw your common sense out the door."

Similarly, the prosecutor said, the defense team's argument that Kane's release was all about transparency was undercut by another exchange between her and Morrow.

"Just please keep this between us," the political consultant wrote. "Very, very small circle."

Kane responded: "I won't tell anyone."

On May 12, Steele said, as the Mondesire story still hadn't seen the light of the day.

"She says, 'Where is my story'," Steele said, quoting Kane's text message to Morrow. "'I'm dying here while you are drinking.'"

The jury, he said, must keep the context of such messages in mind as they are considering the facts of the case.

Still later, Morrow texted Kane about "our story," and mentioned that an early draft was "brutal on our friends."

"Anything about me?" Kane asked. "Please tell me now."

"You are fine."

Steele said the jury needs to keep in mind that, when the Mondesire story was published, Kane did not speak out publicly about the 2009 grand jury investigation or the leak. Neither was she quoted in the story itself, which she had previously testified was part of a larger attempt at transparency.

"Why do they say 'no comment'?" Steele asked. "Because it's wrong and they know it's wrong."

After the article came out, Kane's incoming first deputy, Bruce Beemer, spoke to Kane about the Mondesire leak.

"'Very troubling'," Steele said, quoting a page from Beemer's daily notes. "'She said don't worry about it and it's not a big deal'."

Steele then cited another office staffer's testimony that she scanned the news article and 2009 Mondesire memo and emailed them to Kane. That, the prosecutor said, undercuts her testimony before the grand jury that she had not read the article until August.

A short time later, Kane expressed her wish to Beemer to make some kind of legal filing to quash the grand jury investigation into the Mondesire leak.

"She knows she's wrong," Steele said. "She knows people are looking at her."

Morrow would then testify that, in August, he had a lunch with Kane in which they developed a cover story for the alleged leak prior to their respective appearances before the grand jury.

Throughout that late summer and fall, Steele said, Kane's attorneys repeatedly pushed back her testimony before the grand jury. During the three days between Morrow and Kane's testimony that November, he said, the pair communicated numerous times.

"What are they talking about?" Steele said. "This is about, 'What did you say?', 'What did you tell them?', 'Our stories have got to match'."

The records, Steele said, bolster Morrow's testimony in the criminal case, regardless of the defense attorneys' protestations.

"This is the person they ask you not to believe," Steele said. "This is their relationship. Who should you believe?"

Despite the defense team's closing arguments calling into question the credibility of the prosecution witnesses, he said, the jury must keep focused on the facts.

"You're not here to decide Adrian King. You're not here to decide Josh Morrow," he said. "This is about the Commonwealth of P.A. and the defendant Kathleen Kane."

Nearing the end of his closing arguments, Steele brought the jury back to the victims, with a photo of Hicks together with Mondesire.

Kane leaned back in her seat, eyes focused on the jury box.

"Mr. Mondesire was never arrested," Steele said, his voice nearly shout. "He was never arrested. But she put it out," his voice fading to a whisper, speaking slowly and directly to the jurors. "And that is not permitted under the law.

"That affected him."