Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Pleads Guilty In Sex Scandal, Agrees To Resign
Published: Thursday - September 4, 2008
Words by Miles Bennett
Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (Photo: Getty Images)
Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, once dubbed the hip-hop mayor when he took office in 2002, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges on Thursday (September 4) in a sex scandal, reports the Associated Press, which has resulted in him agreeing to resign after holding onto the position for months in the mist of the controversy.
The 38-year-old Democrat's guilty plea was part of a plea deal that ends a seven-mouth-long scandal that put Detroit and the state into political chaos, and adds to two felony convictions to his record.
The charges stem from Kilpatrick's role in the city's $8.4-million settlement of a whistle-blower lawsuit brought by two fired police officers.
Kilpatrick, along with his former top aide Christine Beatty, were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice, after being accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.
Under the plea deal, the now former Mayor will serve four months in jail, five years of probation, and pay $1 million in restitution over the probationary period. Payments from his state pension must be assigned to the city of Detroit toward the restitution. He also cannot run for any elected office for five years.
Kilpatrick read a statement, in court, admitting to lying during his testimony in the suit. "I lied under oath," he said. "I did so with the intent to mislead the court and the jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration and justice."
In a separate hearing moments that followed Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner's judgment, Kilpatrick offered a no contest plea in an assault case, which judge also accepted a plea for, calling for Kilpatrick to serve a four-month jail sentence that would run at the same time.
The Detroit Mayor had faced 10 felony counts in the two separate criminal cases and was facing up to 15 years in prison had he been convicted of perjury.
Beatty, however, has not pleaded guilty and is scheduled back in court on September 11. Reports indicate that a plea deal is likely in her case.
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