Prosecutor leaving Frederick County to work on federal cases

Nov. 25—Kyle Kane, an assistant state's attorney in the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office, is leaving the county to become a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of West Virginia.

"I'm so excited to go work on these high-end cases and these long term cases, and really, you know, take a step up in what I'm handling on a day to day basis," Kane said.

Kane has been an attorney in Frederick's County's narcotic unit since 2019. He's worked on drug investigations, handled murder cases and argued in rape trials. Before, he was in district court, working mostly juvenile cases, he said.

In Martinsburg, where the Northern District of West Virginia office is, he'll join a general criminal unit, he said.

Since he hasn't started yet, he doesn't know exactly what kind of cases he'll be working on. However, he's heard the Eastern Panhandle and the state of West Virginia have been struggling with drug and gun trafficking lately, he said.

"What the [Martinsburg] office is focusing on right now is drugs and guns," he said.

Kane said he always knew he wanted to go to law school and be an attorney. He said that was his way to do good in the world.

While he was a law clerk watching various attorneys argue in the courtroom, he said, he knew that was where he wanted to be.

He recalled thinking, "I know I want to be in the courtroom. I want to do litigation."

And Kane has successfully argued many cases since he joined the state's attorney's office in 2015.

Kane said he's not the kind of attorney who delivers a "devastating closing argument," but he has a good investigative and strategic mind that helps build solid cases.

In a email to the News-Post, Frederick County's State's Attorney Charlie Smith praised Kane's work.

"The investigation and prosecution of gang cases carry many difficulties, such as recanting witnesses, intimidated bystanders, and unsympathetic victims. Yet Kyle has handled these cases without blinking an eye," Smith wrote. "He will make an excellent federal prosecutor."

The job of an attorney isn't as glamorous as people think it is, Kane said. He's only ever had a dramatic moment where he yells "I object!" in the courtroom maybe twice. But that doesn't mean it's without reward, he said.

Cases in which juveniles get out of the court system were always special, he said. There have also been sentencings in drug court that end up being a happy moment for an individual and their family, he said.

"Those are the moments that you think would be all the time and they're few and far between," he said. "So they're really special when they happen."

While he couldn't talk about the case he was the most proud of, Kane shared the case that he felt was the most notable in his career and left the biggest impact on him.

Kane and Assistant State's Attorney Tammy Leache worked together on the case against Travis Eddins, 42, who was convicted in August 2018 for raping a woman. He was ordered to serve 40 years in prison in June 2019.

That sentence was fulfilling, he said.

"It's gonna follow [the victim] forever," he said. "We got to meet the family. We got to meet with her. And it just really felt like you did something for somebody to give them closure on a terrible thing in their life."

And while he's excited for the new chapter in his career, Kane said it's bittersweet to leave the state's attorney's office.

He'll remain a member of the Frederick County Bar Association, but he'll miss the legal community in the courthouse, he said.

"You go up to the courtrooms, and you can just walk around and banter with defense attorneys and the police and everybody who's up there on a daily basis," he said. "I'm gonna miss that stuff."

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