from Dan Herbeck and Lou Michel of the Buffalo News,

Former Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said he was surprised and baffled to learn about the postponement of grand jury proceedings.

“I was surprised, very surprised,” said Clark, who worked closely for many years with Sedita when Sedita was his lead homicide prosecutor.

Clark said he could think of three possible reasons why Sedita would delay presentation of evidence.

“I have delayed presenting a case to a grand jury in the past, and usually the reason is that the defendant’s attorney came to me and said, ‘Please, don’t present this, let’s work out some kind of plea deal,’ ” Clark said. “And we worked out a plea deal.”

Based on everything he has heard about the Kane case, Clark said it appears highly unlikely that Cambria is trying to work out a guilty plea for his client.

“The second possibility is the victim’s attorney coming to the prosecutor and saying, ‘Please hold off on the grand jury for awhile. My client is very upset, she’s in a lot of turmoil, and she just isn’t ready for this at this point,” Clark said. “If he tells you that, you’re going to surmise that they’re trying to work out some kind of civil agreement between the victim and the defendant. But that agreement would not, in any way, be binding on the prosecutor. He could still proceed with his case if he feels strongly about it.”

The third possibility cited by Clark was “witness availability.”

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