Detroit mayor pleads guilty to felonies, agrees to resign
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony charges of obstructing justice by committing perjury and agreed to resign as mayor in two weeks, according to the Detroit Free Press. He also will spend four months in jail, and he will be banned from running for office for the next five years.
Kilpatrick addressed residents of the city Thursday night, saying he took full responsibility for his actions. “I wish with all my heart that we could turn back the hands of time and tell that young man ‘Make better choices.’ But I can’t,” Kilpatrick said, according to the Free Press. The charges stem from Kilpatrick’s denial under oath that he had an affair with his former chief of staff Christine Beatty. “I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit … I did so with the intent to mislead the court and jury,” Kilpatrick was reported as saying to Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner while entering his plea.
Also, Kilpatrick pleaded no contest to one count of felonious assault against a sheriff’s deputy who was trying to serve a subpoena against one of Kilpatrick’s friends in July. Along with the other penalties, Kilpatrick will have to pay $1 million in restitution to the city and serve five years’ probation. The entire story is available at www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage.
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