DETROIT, Sept. 4, 2008
Sex Scandal Finally Does In Detroit Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick To Resign And Plead Guilty To Obstruction Charges
-
Photo
When a Wayne County Circuit Court judge asked Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick if he understood that his guilty plea meant he was giving up his right to prove his innocence, Kilpatrick replied, "I gave that up a long time ago." (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Detroit Mayor Behind Bars
The mayor of Detroit has landed in jail for a bond violation. Dean Reynolds reports on Democratic Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's latest legal troubles.
-
Video
Detroit Mayor To Be Arraigned
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick denies perjury and covering up an affair with a married aide. Bianca Solorzano reports.
-
Video
Sex Scandal Attorneys Speak
Maggie Rodriguez speaks with Kym Worthy, prosecutor in the perjury and misconduct case against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and with Kilpatrick's attorney, Dan Webb.
-
Timeline
Detroit Mayor Mess
Key events in the text-messaging sex scandal involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
-
Interactive
Political Scandals
Politics can be a strange and dirty business. Check out some of the biggest missteps and mishaps in recent history.
The plea deal brings to an end a seven-months-long ordeal that led to felony charges against Kilpatrick and plunged the city, region and state into political chaos.
"I lied under oath," Kilpatrick said in court.
As part of the deal, the 38-year-old Democrat is to serve four months in jail and five years of probation. He also would pay the $1 million in restitution over the five-year probationary period.
During a separate hearing moments after Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner accepted the mayor's plea, Kilpatrick offered a no contest plea in an assault case.
The judge also accepted that plea, which called for Kilpatrick to serve a four-month jail sentence that would run at the same time.
Kilpatrick had faced 10 felony counts in the two separate criminal cases.
Groner asked Kilpatrick if he understood he was giving up the right to be innocent until proven guilty.
"I gave that up a long time ago," Kilpatrick replied.
The soon-to-be former mayor added, "I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the City of Detroit... regarding information that was related to claims made by Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope," he said.
"I did so with the intent to mislead the court and the jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice," reports CBS station WWJ.
The married mayor and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They're accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.
Beatty did not plead guilty and next will appear in court on Sept. 11. Groner said a plea deal in Beatty's case appeared likely.
The mayor will be sentenced on Oct. 28. He will report to jail that day, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
"We did not give an inch and these conditions were basically to a letter of what we wanted all along," she said.
The mayor has to announce his resignation immediately, and it will become effective within two weeks.
Worthy said she was glad that Kilpatrick resigned but that was never a "bargaining chip" for her. She said paying restitution and serving time in jail were far more important.
"You don't just lose your job and walk away," she said.
City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. will succeed Kilpatrick as mayor until a special election is held.
Until now, Kilpatrick had refused to resign even as the calls for him to step down grew louder and the controversy overshadowed all else at City Hall, tarnishing the national image of the much-maligned city even more.
Kilpatrick leaves a mixed legacy. He persuaded big business to invest in a city staggering from the auto industry's woes and a decades-long exodus of people, but he failed to live up to a promising political future due to repeated scandal.
The son of a Detroit congresswoman, Kilpatrick was just 31 when he was elected in 2001, becoming the youngest mayor in city history.
His pro-Detroit rhetoric and diamond stud earring endeared Kilpatrick to many blacks, especially young voters who embraced the "Hip-Hop Mayor."
But Kilpatrick's first term was marked by political immaturity and fiscal irresponsibility. He racked up thousands of dollars in travel on his city-issued credit card and the city's lease of a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife, Carlita.
Less than a year into the first term, rumors surfaced of a wild party involving strippers and members of Kilpatrick's security team at the mayor's mansion.
Former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown filed a lawsuit in 2003, claiming he was fired for looking into the alleged party and investigating the actions of the mayor's bodyguards.
During the 2007 trial, Kilpatrick and Beatty sat in the witness chair and denied having a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003.
But a bombshell rocked Detroit in January: The Detroit Free Press published sexually explicit text messages recovered from Beatty's city-issued pager that contradicted their courtroom denials.
He and Beatty were charged with perjury and other felonies.
More text messages released in April revealed the evolution of flirty and sexually explicit exchanges to professions of love and promises of marriage.
In May, the City Council asked Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office, saying it was misled into approving a $8.4 million settlement with Brown and two other officers. Council members said they didn't know about provisions to keep the text messages under wraps.
In July, a sheriff's detective trying to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend said he was shoved by the mayor. Assault charges followed.
The next month, a judge ordered the mayor to jail for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Canada. He was released the next day, but the incident prompted some politicians and community leaders who had remained silent on the scandal to call for his resignation.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 81 Comments"I gave that up a long time ago," Kilpatrick replied. ]
haven''t we all?
Coleman Young got away with it for decades and now has his name on a building in Detroit.
Detroit needs another Dennis Archer or Dave Bing as Mayor.
Coleman Young got away with it for decades and now has his name on a building in Detroit.
Detroit needs another Dennis Archer or Dave Bing as Mayor. "...mytoosense
I lived in Detroit for five years during the Coleman Young administration. I can tell you that the last thing the citizens of Detroit want to hear is that maybe it would be a good thing if they acquired some training and considered getting a job. Detroiters (by and large) have been conditioned to think like permanent wards of the state and all they want is for the welfare checks and food stamps to continue flowing in their direction. Sad...but quite true. This is why they will repeatedly elect guys like Young and kilpatrick, who view the city treasury as their personal piggybank.
Posted by ccfsdca
Calling Kwame a friend of Obama''s is like calling
Tom Delay, Larry Craig, Mark Foley and Dik Cheney friends of John McCain.
Nice try.
When Colorado Democratic Party leader Billy Compton intimidated Sacha Millstone asking her to resign as a Delegate because she had second thoughts on Obama was outrageous! When the sexist/racist Emil Jones called Delmarie Cobb who supported Hillary an "Uncle Tom" infuriates us women!
As a woman I can''t beieve that it is the Republican Party who chose a woman as their VP. It shows the sexism that exists in our current Democratic Party and it is disgraceful!
I am proud to be one out of the 18 million of us so called "Disgruntled Hillary supporters" who will be voting for McCain and especially Palen now that McCain has shown the courage to chose a woman and his VP. The Obama campaign had been sexist towards Hillary and we women are not going to tolerate it anymore.
We are asking other Democratic women to join us in sending a message to our Democratic Party Leadership and the sexist liberally biased media by voting McCain/Palin!
Allah, Moeesha, Bey-once...what difference does it make? Day is allhoes!
Posted by ccfsdca at 12:20 PM : Sep 04, 2008
Is McCain really G/AY due to his relationship with Craig ?? or with Bush and Haggard ???
Posted by parrots121
By the company they keep you shall know them.
Dems, the party of NAMBLA
Posted by mytoosense
Yup, they are here every day 24 hours a day posting some of the most hate drooling vile perverted things you would never imagine about President Bush, VP Cheney, Dr Rice, Senator McCain, Governor Palin and in general about anyone that is a member of the GOP.
Democrats, the party of constant hate and corruption. The party of NAMBLA.
We are asking other Democratic women to join us in sending a message to our Democratic Party Leadership and the sexist liberally biased media by voting McCain/Palin!
Posted by praiseallah1 at 12:40 PM : Sep 04, 2008
Nice try, Republican!! We true Democrat females know that McCain is so senile that he didn''t bother to vet Palin before he chose her; he just wanted someone who toed the fundie/repub-hack line. She fit that bill just fine. She is not an appropriate substitute for quality. Only someone who will choose to help Americans will be that, and anyone who is Republican doesn''t qualify.
Now wait just a minute there, Eddie...we cant go around locking up ALL of the politicians who are corrupt...there is already a serious problem with jails being over-crowded!!!
Posted by praiseallah1
Idiot!!
case close.. so now everyone can move on.
just amazing that in other area and states you can find politician who did 10 times worst than kilpatrick and they still have a job and its COVER UP by
case close.. so now everyone can move on.
just amazing that in other area and states you can find politician who did 10 times worst than kilpatrick and they still have a job and its COVER UP by everyone from the DA to where the other powers is.
I guess you have to be of a certain kind to get that sort of PROTECTION. and you could read this in every which way.
The voter should be able to come up 5 good quality traits about their candidate''s opposition.
A majority of people would be willing to change sides if they were not wearing biased glasses.
It is time to reinvent Detroit, taking advantage of the talent of its people in the arts, and every other natural advantage as well as its placement on the spigot of what should be Eastern America''s fresh water supply. It was not smart in the beginning to depend of the automakers to be the core of the driving force of Detroit''s economy, because nothing is forever, ask IBM.
Totally redesign and rebuild a "green" city, and there will be jobs for each person that wants one, for at least the next thirty years.
Posted by whiskyrokr
whisky...don''t where you''re from, but as a long time area (including suburbs) resident, I invite you to go shove a pineapple up your arse.
Not a chance, they are a privately owned company, they own the website, and can legally censor anyone they want. The "rules of engagement" are clear, and you agreed to them when you registered, so if they won''t let you post objectionable content, which I suspect is the case, then it is your problem, not theirs.
You can put anything on the web you want, but on your own website, as long as it doesn''t violate federal law. Posting plans for a workable nuclear device, with a map of Crawford, Texas might be useful, but it is illegal.
I wouldn''t say that, the acts you described, while depraved, are not illegal, now if you put them under oath and they deny it, then proof of their lie surfaces, then it is time for jail, but they were never put under oath, this is why they haven''t gone to jail.
Now if you say that they were never put under oath because they were "White" then I would agree with you.
-----------
How about a squash or large banana. I''m allergic to pineapple.
-----------
You know your''re right. I agree
----
I couldn''t of said it better myself. Great post
[Posted by Latrocinor at 01:02 PM : Sep 04, 2008]
isn''t it interesting that you are doing the very same thing that you attribute to those who think different than you.
they''re doing it specifically to a named individual ... and you do it to a group of people who have a particular world view ... people you know absolutely nothing about ... and you seem to think that you''re somehow better than them.
----------
I hate to break it to you but your suburb is a piece of $hit,just like you.
No need to sugarcoat how you feel about this. Really.
She''ll divorce him for financial reasons. Not for ethical reasons. Does anybody really believe he will be able to cough up one million dollars?? He may have inhaled that much money, but not saved any of it.
----------
You sure are uptight. You need to lighten up a little.
You are the one whining.
-----------
honestabe does like to use the word "BLOWHARD" a lot. Maybe you were right after all about them being a couple.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 81 Comments