Mayor of Detroit resigns, heading to jail

[irishmick79]

Teflon Kwame loses job

Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty Thursday to charges resulting from a sex scandal and is to resign from office, a prosecutor said.


Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has agreed to resign from office, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The resignation won't take effect for 14 days, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said outside the courthouse.

Kilpatrick will go to jail on October 28, the day of his sentencing, and serve 120 days, she said.

The mayor pleaded guilty in Wayne County Circuit Court to two counts of obstruction of justice.

"I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit," Kilpatrick said, reading from a prepared statement. Watch Kilpatrick in court »

"I did so with the intent to mislead the court and jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice."

Circuit Judge David Groner accepted a no-contest plea on an assault charge.

As part of his plea deal, Kilpatrick also agreed not to run for public office during his five-year probation.

Kilpatrick has been embroiled in a public scandal since January, when the Detroit Free Press reported he had exchanged romantic text messages with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, indicating the two were involved in an affair.

At a police whistle-blower trial in 2007, the pair, under oath, denied they had an affair.

The mayor and Beatty were accused in criminal court of lying about their romantic involvement, under oath, during the summer 2007 whistle-blower trial, which eventually led the city to pay more than $8 million in settlements.

In a hearing Wednesday, Peter Hammer, a Wayne State University law professor, testified that in addition to a standard agreement not to disclose the amount of damages and escrow, the settlement reached last fall included another agreement on confidentiality.

"The confidentiality agreement is for private purposes," Hammer said. "It commits all parties to not disclose the contents of the text messages."

He added, "The agreement purports to manage who has access and control to the text messages as of October 17. It's dated the same day as the private contractual settlement. ... So this is a side agreement."

According to the confidentiality agreement, the text messages were to be put "into a safe and secure bank," or deposit box.

Kilpatrick faced charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. Beatty was charged with perjury.

The Detroit City Council voted in May to ask Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove Kilpatrick, accusing him of misleading the council when it approved settlements with two fired police officers -- Deputy Chief Gary Brown and Officer Harold Nelthrope, a mayoral bodyguard.

The two accused Kilpatrick of retaliating against them because of their roles in an internal affairs probe of the mayor's security team -- an investigation that could have exposed the affair. They sued Kilpatrick and the city of Detroit. A Wayne County court ruled in their favor.

Walt Harris, another former mayoral bodyguard, filed his own whistle-blower suit, contending he was punished for supporting Nelthrope's reports of wrongdoing by Kilpatrick and his bodyguards.

One of Time Magazine's five worst mayors in America finally goes down. Good riddance. On top of these allegations, there were other allegations that he routinely steered millions of dollars worth of city contracts to his backers.

[Stormbringer]

One of Time Magazine's five worst mayors in America finally goes down. Good riddance. On top of these allegations, there were other allegations that he routinely steered millions of dollars worth of city contracts to his backers.

About goddamned time. The fact that he was elected and re-elected to office after all the corrpution and bullshit is appalling. He screwed Detroit horribly in terms of graft and incompetence at a time when effective leadership was needed. Detroit is a mess and having a mayor that ran it like a shady rap label didn't help at all. Of course the fact that lemmings of Detroit voted for him anyway is an appalling joke as well.

The allegations of corrpution are nothing new and are probably quite true. But I doubt any one will seriously push for an accounting; the political risk would be far too great for most officials to try it. They'll nail him for this as he's finally dug himself in too deep but it won't go far enough.

[Gerald Tarrant]

The mayor pleaded guilty in Wayne County Circuit Court to two counts of obstruction of justice.

"I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit," Kilpatrick said, reading from a prepared statement. Watch Kilpatrick in court »

"I did so with the intent to mislead the court and jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice."

Why are there so many of these obstruction of justice things? Is there a legitimate reason prosecutors can't/won't nail the perps for the crime and the cover-up?

[Stormbringer]

Why are there so many of these obstruction of justice things? Is there a legitimate reason prosecutors can't/won't nail the perps for the crime and the cover-up?

Because obstruction of justice works.

It's relatively easy to be able to prove when some one actively hampers an investigation or lies under oath. Investigations naturally document things and provide solid evidence when some one screws up.

It's much harder in case like this where there are multiple parties telling different stories, blaming each, and denying guilt you have a very hard time proving that any particular party is legally culpable. In political cases like this there is often a large degree of personal and party loyalty which shields individuals and the group itself. That's one of the reasons that cases like this rely so heavily on financial records, wiretaps, seized documents, and turned informants as those establish reliable documentation of the conspiracy. Evidentiary standards and slick lawyers mean you really have to have a smoking gun.

Of course, I don't think it at all hurts that the Democratic elected and appointed officials were reluctant to hammer Kilpatrick years ago lest they lose Detroits reliable (if moderately retarded) Democratic votes.

[Stuart Mackey]

OK, from what I have heard, this guy is rotten to the core, but since when is having an affair illegal?

[irishmick79]

OK, from what I have heard, this guy is rotten to the core, but since when is having an affair illegal?

Well, it's more the perjury charge that's the problem, and the whole issue of Kwame firing police officials for investigating the issue. If I remember correctly, it all started when a dead hooker turned up in Detroit and police uncovered vague ties to the mayor's office. When they tried to investigate it, Kwame tried to put the breaks on the investigation. The investigation kind of stumbled upon the affair.

[Stuart Mackey]

OK, from what I have heard, this guy is rotten to the core, but since when is having an affair illegal?

Well, it's more the perjury charge that's the problem, and the whole issue of Kwame firing police officials for investigating the issue. If I remember correctly, it all started when a dead hooker turned up in Detroit and police uncovered vague ties to the mayor's office. When they tried to investigate it, Kwame tried to put the breaks on the investigation. The investigation kind of stumbled upon the affair.

Yeah, but what does an affair have to do with it?

[irishmick79]

OK, from what I have heard, this guy is rotten to the core, but since when is having an affair illegal?

Well, it's more the perjury charge that's the problem, and the whole issue of Kwame firing police officials for investigating the issue. If I remember correctly, it all started when a dead hooker turned up in Detroit and police uncovered vague ties to the mayor's office. When they tried to investigate it, Kwame tried to put the breaks on the investigation. The investigation kind of stumbled upon the affair.

Yeah, but what does an affair have to do with it?

The affair itself? Nothing. It has more to do with the blatant obstruction of justice and misuse of power. Kilpatrick used his office to protect the affair and continue the affair, going so far as to bill the city for thousands of dollars worth of hotel stays and such. That's where the real issue is.

[Stuart Mackey]

Well, it's more the perjury charge that's the problem, and the whole issue of Kwame firing police officials for investigating the issue. If I remember correctly, it all started when a dead hooker turned up in Detroit and police uncovered vague ties to the mayor's office. When they tried to investigate it, Kwame tried to put the breaks on the investigation. The investigation kind of stumbled upon the affair.

Yeah, but what does an affair have to do with it?

The affair itself? Nothing. It has more to do with the blatant obstruction of justice and misuse of power. Kilpatrick used his office to protect the affair and continue the affair, going so far as to bill the city for thousands of dollars worth of hotel stays and such. That's where the real issue is.

Ahh, I see, thanks.