Mich. AG: Detroit mayor violated bail terms again

Mich. AG: Detroit mayor violated bail terms again

By ED WHITE, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago



A prosecutor on Monday accused Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of violating his bond in an assault case by spending time over the weekend with his sister, one of 11 witnesses listed by authorities.

Kilpatrick and Ayanna Kilpatrick were together at their mother's house Saturday, a day after he was released from jail for violating bond in a separate perjury case, said Doug Baker of the Michigan attorney general's office.

The mayor is charged with assaulting two investigators who were trying to deliver a subpoena at his sister's house in July in the perjury case.

In a court filing, Baker said the mayor had been ordered to have no contact with witnesses.

Kilpatrick's defense team, however, believes the mayor is not in trouble. Attorney Jim Thomas said Magistrate Renee McDuffee clarified Friday that Kilpatrick could have contact with his sister.

In a statement, Kilpatrick spokesman Marcus Reese accused state Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican, of trying to score political points with the latest filing against the embattled Democratic mayor.

District Judge Ronald Giles will hold a hearing on the matter on Tuesday.

Giles is the judge who sent Kilpatrick to jail Thursday for violating his bond conditions in a perjury case involving Kilpatrick and a former top aide. The mayor traveled to Windsor, Ontario, for city business July 23 without first notifying authorities.

Baker's filing asked the court to look at what happened and amend the terms of Kilpatrick's bond. The document doesn't mention any possible changes, and Baker left court without speaking to reporters.

Kilpatrick was released Friday after a higher court, acting on an appeal, set his bond at $50,000.

Baker referred to the perjury case by saying the mayor has "demonstrated an inability to adhere to reasonable bond conditions."

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy confirmed reports that she met last week with community leaders, who are encouraging her to end the perjury case with a plea bargain.

Worthy, an elected official, defended her attendance at the meeting, saying it was an opportunity to listen to constituents. She declined to comment on any deal with Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, were charged in March with perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. They are to be arraigned Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors say text messages contradict their denial of an affair, a key point in a trial involving a former deputy police chief who claimed he was illegally fired.

Kilpatrick is the son of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich.




Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Bill's Comment: Whether or not there is political motivation behind this, it is another example of a high-profiled politician thinking that he is above the law.

Detroit Mayor charged with perjury

Detroit Mayor charged with perjury

By COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago



DETROIT - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.

Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

"Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private," Worthy said. "Our investigation has clearly shown that public dollars were used, people's lives were ruined, the justice system severely mocked and the public trust trampled on. ... This case is about as far from being a private matter as one can get."

The charges could signal the end of Kilpatrick's six-year career as mayor of one of America's largest cities.

Perjury is a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A felony conviction would mean Kilpatrick's immediate expulsion from office under the Detroit City Charter. Calls for his resignation have surfaced since late January and the Detroit City Council asked him to step down last week.

Kilpatrick was to hold a noon news conference but had not yet appeared and his office and lawyers were not commenting. A message seeking comment from Beatty's attorney, Jeffrey Morganroth, was not returned.

Kilpatrick has said he would not resign and last week said he expects to be vindicated when all aspects of the scandal are made public.

Worthy said she expected the mayor and Beatty to turn themselves in by 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Worthy began her investigation the day after the Free Press published excerpts of the embarrassing text messages in late January. The messages called into question testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave in a lawsuit filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

In court, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having an intimate relationship, but the text messages reveal that they carried on a flirty, sometimes sexually explicit dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their trysts.

Kilpatrick is married with three children. Beatty was married at the time and has two children.

The city agreed to pay $8.4 million to the two officers and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit. Documents released last month showed Kilpatrick agreed to the settlement in an effort to keep the text messages from becoming public.

The text messages published by the Free Press revealed a romantic discourse.

"I'm madly in love with you," Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002.

"I hope you feel that way for a long time," Beatty replied. "In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!"

Worthy filed eight counts against Kilpatrick and seven against Beatty.

Kilpatrick faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

Beatty is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

For Beatty, who attended high school with Kilpatrick and managed his campaigns for Michigan's state House and the mayor's office, the scandal forced her to resign.

City lawyers and Kilpatrick's attorneys waged a futile legal battle to keep documents related to the lawsuit settlement and text messages from public eyes.

Calls for his resignation surfaced in late January from some city union leaders and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox repeated that call.