Detroit Mayor Expected To Reach Plea Deal

(AP)  Prosecutors accusing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of lying on the witness stand to cover up an extramarital affair with a top aide said Wednesday that a plea deal is expected soon in the case, though the mayor's attorneys insisted one had not been struck yet.

The surprise development came as Gov. Jennifer Granholm heard evidence in an extraordinary hearing that could result in the married mayor's removal from office. The outcome of the criminal case does not necessarily bear on the governor's hearing.

The City Council is trying to have Kilpatrick removed, saying it was misled when it approved an $8.4 million settlement last year with fired police officers.

Council members say they didn't know the deal carried secret provisions to keep a lid on steamy text messages between Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, who was his chief of staff, on city-issued pagers.

The office of Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday that an agreement in the perjury case was expected soon, first saying it would come that afternoon and later saying it would be Thursday.

Kilpatrick attorney James Thomas, who was at the governor's hearing Wednesday, agreed it was "apparent that they are close" to a plea deal, but said it was not a sure thing.

"That plea deal has not been consummated," Thomas said after the hearing, which Kilpatrick was not required to attend. A spokeswoman said he was working on city business.

The mayor would automatically be expelled from office if he is convicted of a felony. But even if he avoids a felony conviction in the perjury case and persuades the governor not to remove him, he still faces assault charges stemming from a confrontation in July.

The settlement between the city and the mayor in the case of the fired police officers was the product of an "incredible pattern of deception and nondisclosure," council lawyer William Goodman said at Wednesday's removal hearing.

"It was settled to cover up the truth. It was fast and it was rushed," he said.

"These are not minor transgressions, Gov. Granholm. They have brought this city to a grinding halt," Goodman said.

"The mayor has often expressed his love for the city of Detroit. ... But to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, men often kill the thing they love," he said. "Be assured this city has not been killed yet, but it is gravely wounded, and the mayor must be removed."

In her opening statement, the mayor's attorney, Sharon McPhail, covered much ground, some of it unrelated to the case at hand.

She predicted unnamed council members who want Kilpatrick kicked out are awaiting indictment on "far worse charges." McPhail urged the governor, like Kilpatrick a Democrat, to resist calls to fire the mayor.

"It's too stupid to be plausible" that Kilpatrick came up with a secret pact to cover up embarrassing text messages, McPhail said.

Michigan governors are allowed by the state constitution to remove elected officials for misconduct, but the target never has been the leader of the state's largest city. The last time was in 1982, when Gov. William Milliken let a township official stay in office if he stopped drinking.

Granholm has pared the case to two issues: Did Kilpatrick settle the lawsuits for personal gain because he feared release of the text messages? And did the mayor conceal information from the City Council?

Michael Stefani, an attorney for three former police officers, said Wednesday that he quickly settled lawsuits against the city after he told opposing attorneys that he planned to file text messages in court showing an affair between the mayor and an aide.

Two officers had already won their whistle-blower trial the previous year, but the financial remedy ordered by a jury could have been appealed. Legal fees were unsettled, too.

Kilpatrick's lawyer, Sam McCargo, "looked shaken up" when he saw the messages and said he could call the mayor to pursue a "global resolution" with the officers, according to Stefani.

After the Detroit Free Press published the text messages this year, Kilpatrick and Beatty were charged in Wayne County Circuit Court with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice.

A sheriff's detective later said Kilpatrick shoved him into another investigator as they were trying to serve a subpoena to the mayor's friend in the perjury case. That resulted in two assault charges against the mayor.

If Kilpatrick is forced from office, City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. would succeed him until a special election is held.

[hh10sne1]

I am sure it is just an oversight that your entire story forgot to mention what political party the mayor of Detroit is from. Yet your first line for a guy that gave money to both parties as a lobbyist is
GOP lobbyist, Abramoff sentenced to 4 years. (the same day)

I head the same two stories on ABC radio and they followed your unigue style with a republican congressman and the mayor of Detroit.
Are you guys so blantant that if it is bad for a republican they get the credit and if it bad for a democrat, it is never mentioned what party the nasty person belonged to?????
Where is Dan Rather??

[pooglywoogly]

Detroit has been a joke for decades. Shows what happens when you pick leaders based on party affiliation and skin color rather than ability.

[a8151947]

He belongs in JAIL. He does belong in the mayor office. To JAIL.

[platteman]

He is a lawyer. That is why he is getting special treatment. Just think when BO is president, KK will be in his cabnet. I just hope I am wrong.

[honestabe8]

Keithe1: He is pretty stupid, but I think what you see more is is unbridled arrogance and sense of entitlement.

[keithle1]

What an idiot. I love the expressions on his face in these photos. Saw some footage on TV yesterday of "Kwame" (!) in court & he''s smiling & checking out the people in the court room like he''s at a Kilpatrick family reunion or something. Why is this man smiling? Is he that stupid?

[apprxam]

Everyone on that stage, clapping and whooping it up during the cackling display his mother perform during his "Yallz Boy" rally should be shot. They are resopnsible for his political station and continued failure to perform. They, for sure, are profiting from this whether he serves well or not and like him, should be held accountable as he will sooner or later. It is time the Detroit follow the lead of Newark, NJ and Washington, D.C, and elect educated, well spoken and brave political leaders that will shake things and and demand for the citizen, even the children, that she/he stand up and build your place up and take charge of your destiny and be responsile enough to expect more from local politians, no matter their race. Kwame failed because the citizen failed.

Kym Worthy for Mayor of Detroit City would be a good start.

[apprxam]

Democrats must police themselves in local and state politics. This is the only way to break the backs of poor leadership. Kilpatrick is guilty of stupidity at the least, an criminally in effect.

That said, not-nicely put, his Chief of Staff and Police Chief were weak, idiotic officials who were contemptuous of the concept of good governance and speaking truth to power. It is these two who, while working for a charismatic campaigner, failed to lead the stupid lost boy persona to perform better. The people who voted for him were fooled into choosing him, but they don''t deserve such fallow service.

[gunnertwo1]

Looks like the mayor thought the mayor''s office was his personal playpen and he was above the law. He needs to be thrown out now. This is taking too long.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by notopennshut

From a 51 year old survivor of Detroit, I can say that you were probably unable to produce kids when it started to go wrong, that occurred in the late 60s when the DPD created its own terrorist organization, called S.T.R.E.S.S., went on a rampage, killing randomly chosen "Black citizens.

The Algiers Motel incident, and the killings of Hayward Brown, Mark Bethune, and John Percy Boyd touched off a firestorm of long pent-up anger, resulting in riots that spread across the country the next year. It worsened in the 70s when the automakers went into paroxysms of layoffs, each racing to see who could pull the most rugs from under honest, hard-working people. Detroit never recovered, the poverty and the winters helped it to become at one stage more dangerous than Iraq.

My family lived on Pingree St., just blocks away from the epicenter of the riots, so I do know what I am writing about.