Sex Scandal Finally Does In Detroit Mayor

Kwame Kilpatrick To Resign And Plead Guilty To Obstruction Charges

(CBS/ AP)  Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to felony charges Thursday in a sex scandal and will step down after months of defiantly holding onto his job leading the nation's 11th-largest city. He was ordered jailed for four months and fined $1 million.

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.

[gatofeo]

Rap and Hip Hop are poisons to decent people, of all color. They have destroyed much of a generation.
The mayor is garbage. Detroit is a sewer because of garbage like him. He needs a big dose of humility. I''d suggest a summer spent picking vegetables or fruit under a hot sun, or bailing hay. Something that is decidedly unglamorous, physically taxing and leaves you exhausted at the end of the day.
Why not? Plenty of Americans do it every day. Farmers rise before dawn, work all day, and are in bed shortly after the sun sets because 4 a.m. comes around mighty early.
Obviously, he was raised to expect privilege, and to demand special consideration because of his heritage. This is what comes from Affirmative Action: the idea that skin color alone will get you special privileges that others do not enjoy.
Hand him a post-hole digger. Point out a flatbed truck filled with posts and barbed wire and add, "Get to work. No work, no meals."

[bm6005]

Bought frickin'' time although a firing squad might deter other future crooks!

[keithle1]

Black people seem to have an infinite capacity to forgive the sins of other black people especially those of black men.

[keithle1]

He''d smother any woman he was "making love" to.

[honestabe8]

Keithle1: Like Kwame Salami (a.k.a. The Great Fatsby) has ever missed a meal...

[keithle1]

Another brutha screws up his life. Self-destruction.
Ya gotta luv it. Don''t wanna buck the trend.

I bet his momma is real proud of her "hip hop" mayor son now. I hear Detroit is simply delightful in the summer. Always wanted to visit but never found the time.

$1 million fine...hmm...that''s gotta hurt. Almost as much as missing a meal, eh Kwame?

Tee hee.

[tbweb]

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick finally realized the fix was in and resigned, good for him, kill the noise and move on!

[hissteps4u]

It is hight time he admitted what we all already knew. He lied to save his skin and he was cought red handed and about to face many years in Jail and knew it.

What does he have to worry about? If Marion Berry a convicted Felon Crack and cocain user can get relected so can he what a sick perverted public and they will likely reelect him too... Just sick!!!!

[tiredofthebs]

Another brotha bites the dust over a piece of tail. Sad ......

[goboblue]

And, "ApprxAm "

DAVE BING should run the city. Kym Worthy is in foreclosure and has her OWN political baggage.

[goboblue]

Hey "ApprxAm"
Had Bill Clinton NOT let the terrorists PLAN 9/11 ON HIS OWN WATCH, I don''t think the terrorists would''ve gotten RAINED DOWN WITH HAMMERS when "W" got pissed.

Thats why its not biased.
GET OVER IT, IDIOT.

[apprxam]

Who does''nt know that Kilpatrick is a Democrat? Beside, both parties equally suck....so stop it with the "Liberal media" bias mantra...it''s old and untrue. I see that you RePugNaCons seem to always conveniently forgot that the press let your friend Boy George go to war uncheck and unchallenged. Why isn''t that bias.

[bilhosty]

Notice how when there is a scandal involving a Democrat politician the party affiliation is not mentioned. But, when it is a Republican the party affiliation is spread out all over the article. CBS is completely in the tank for the Dem''s and they ought to register as a 527.

[sistatee-2009]

Slimey, Slimey, Slimey. You is such a BAD boy! Y''all git on over to D.C. and run for mayor there. Ah-huh.

[apprxam]

Finally, the city of Detroit acn free itself from at least one aspect of poor public servants; next up, the mother.

All of the Reverends Jackson and Sharton jokes aside, the more important work begins; that of dismantling the Democratic machine of Detroit. Of course a new mayor will be seated, but a newer course must be taken to break the power of the usually suspects. If they have to elect a non-black, then so be it. But things must change and I suggest that the residents of Detroit, especially Afro-Americans, unregister as Democrats and either start an new, local party or as independents. Only the Democrat Party allows its'' base to be constantly swindled and cheated. Power requires demands and this party has attenuated the true demands (needs) of its'' urban citizens no matter the race of the executive. Enough is enough!!

Kym WOrthy for Mayor.

Would he gotten off by telling the truth immediately?

[sistatee-2009]

Never ever testify for Grand Jurys or talk to the Police. You have nothing to gain and every thing to lose.
Posted by howzilla at 05:34 PM : Sep 04, 2008

Slimey Kilpatrick had twenty-eleven lawyers, all making $650. a minute. They were too busy cashing checks to give advice.

[whiskyrokr]

Now what happened to IhavWood4U? Where has he gone again? Probaly off to his KKK meeting.

[ihavwood4u]

Smellyhole
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I have reported your post to the ACLU.
Posted by lazareth

Does that mean you''ll be busy for a while?? I''ll be by to let your wife in on what a grown up mans "special purpose" is all about. I''m sure she wonders by now...

[lazareth-2009]

Smellyhole
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I have reported your post to the ACLU.