Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Pleads Guilty

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5 September 2008 Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two charges of obstruction of justice and no contest to an assault charge, ending his long drawn out court battle over improper text messages with his former chief of staff Christine Beatty, and the effort and abuse of power used to keep them under wraps.

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[edit] The Punishment

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Under this plea deal Mayor Kilpatrick will resign from office on September 18, 2008. His law license has been revoked as well as the pension he would receive from the Michigan state legislature. He will serve a total of four months in prison and will be on probation for a total of 5 years. During this time he may not run for any elected office. He must also pay restitution of $1 million. [1]

[edit] Back Ground Information

In January of 2008 Mayor Kilpatrick came under intense scrutiny due to the initial release of inappropriate text messages between himself and Christine Beatty on city provided paging devices. These text messages proved that both Kilpatrick and Beatty had committed perjury in a 2007 trial centered around the firing of Gary Brown, a Detroit police officer who had threatened to expose this information to the public. It was later learned through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Detroit Free Press that Kilpatrick had in a settlement deal with Brown agreed to pay $8.4 million from city funds.[2]

[edit] Defense Fund

Mayor Kilpatrick claimed in July that no public funds would be used for his defense in this set of trials. [3]Mayor Kilpatrick had set up a defense fund in April 2008 and through the end of June had raised a total of $185,000. During this time period attorney James Thomas had been paid $80,000 out of this fund, however he had billed the mayor for over $200,000. It is still unknown where this second source of funds came from to cover the $120,000 gap. On August 28, 2008 The mayor requested $315,500 in public funds for his legal contracts in this case. [4]

[edit] Questionable Raises

In addition to these issues, it has recently come to light that Mayor Kilpatrick approved 16 significant raises for appointed officials in the Detroit City Government in the past month. of these raises, five of them were double digit increases, with Lucius Vassar, the head of work force development receiving a 30% raise, increasing his pay to $148,200. [5]

[edit] External links


[edit] References

  1. ↑ Jim Schafer, Detroit Free Press, 9/5/08 Kilpatrick admits guilt, resigns.
  2. ↑ Ed White and Corey Williams My Way News 9/5/08 Detroit mayor, soon off to jail, talks of comeback
  3. ↑ Jim Schaefer Detroit Free Press 7/16/08 Kilpatrick defense fund to return contributions
  4. ↑ Zachary Gorchow, Detroit Free Press 8/28/08 Kilpatrick administration has requested $315,500 in legal service contracts
  5. ↑ David Josar, Detroit News 9/4/08 16 top aides get pay raises
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