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Hanover Fist
09-04-2008, 03:42 PM
I can't believe nobody brought this up before now. Is the saga finally over now that he plead guilty and has been sentenced? I still want him to account for the murdered strippers but at least he won't be mayor and he'll have to do jail time.
The only fucked up thing is that because of this the council president becomes mayor and Monica fucking Conyers becomes council president. She's batshit crazy.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080904/NEWS01/309050001

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has pleaded guilty, ending a nearly eight-month drama that has transfixed the region, paralyzed much of city business and halted a political career that once held such promise.

At 7 p.m., the mayor is expected to speak about his decision in a televised address.

Judy Smith, Kilpatrick's Washington, D.C.-based public relations consultant, said details are still being finalized, but 7 p.m. is the tentative time.

In a courtroom this morning, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstructing justice by committing perjury. He will spend four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years' probation. He also agreed not to run for office during that five-year span.

In addition, the mayor agreed to a no-contest plea to one count of felonious assault for shoving a sheriff's deputy in July who had tried to serve a subpoena on Kilpatrick's friend. He agreed to serve four months on that charge, too, but it will be served at the same time as his other sentence.
The deals also call for Kilpatrick to turn over his state pension to the City of Detroit, which paid $8.4 million to settle two whistle-blower lawsuits three former cops filed against the city. The mayor was charged with eight felony counts ranging from conspiracy to perjury to misconduct in office to obstruction of justice after the Free Press revealed in January that the mayor lied on the witness stand during a police whistle-blower trial and gave misleading testimony about whether he intended to fire a deputy police chief investigating allegations of wrongdoing by members of his inner circle.
In a rushed monotone, before a standing-room only audience, Kilpatrick told Wayne Circuit Judge David Groner: "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, to impede and obstruct the disposition of justice."
Sentencing will be at 2 p.m. Oct. 28 As part of the deal, Kilpatrick has two weeks to vacate the office of mayor.
Moments after Groner praised the lawyers for their work reaching a deal, Kilpatrick summoned his wife, kissed her and went back into a side room.
“Justice has finally been served,” University of Detroit Mercy law professor Larry Dubin said this morning.
“The deal that the mayor agreed to ... is a major victory for the prosecutor, the mayor and the people of the City of Detroit and State of Michigan."
Dubin, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the mayor, praised Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

“For the way she prosecuted this case. She has demonstrated integrity in holding a public official accountable for serious criminal violations that constituted serious breaches of the public trust,” Dubin said.

In the moments before the plea this morning, and before huddling with his attorneys, a smiling Kilpatrick entered the third-floor courtroom in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice and jousted with reporters sitting in the first row of the courtroom. He, apparently good-naturedly, told them their reports were wrong and they needed to check their sources. He did not elaborate.

He also shook hands with Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff and ex-lover. Beatty’s lawyers got Groner to delay her separate criminal case for a week while she tries to hammer out her own plea deal.

First Lady Carlita Kilpatrick sat in the audience, a few feet behind her husband, with a stern face throughout the proceedings. It was the first time she had been in a courtroom with Beatty since the scandal started in January.

The mayor had some other familiar faces in the courtroom, including Marc Andre Cunningham, a former aide to Kilpatrick who resigned shortly after the Free Press reported that he had been using a city-issued cell phone that was tapped by the FBI last year in an unrelated investigation.

Kilpatrick’s lawyers and Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran started the day at the Cadillac Place state office building, where they met for about 45 minutes with Gov. Jennifer Granholm. They updated the governor on the plea agreement, and she later cancelled historic removal proceedings that had begun a day earlier and could have resulted in Kilpatrick’s removal from his job.

In January, the Free Press published text messages Kilpatrick and Beatty exchanged on city-issued pagers. The article showed the pair lied under oath when they testified in a police whistle-blower trial last year that they did not have an intimate relationship. They also gave misleading testimony about the firing of a top police official, Gary Brown. Nelthrope was another cop who sued with Brown, both alleging their careers were ruined because of their involvement in an internal affairs investigation that could have led to the discovery of extramarital philandering by Kilpatrick.

Worthy cited the Free Press investigation in March, when he charged Kilpatrick with eight felonies and Beatty with seven. The charges included perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.

Prosecutors and lawyers for Kilpatrick have been mulling a deal for days, the talks intensifying late Wednesday and culminating in this morning’s guilty pleas.

Claydon
09-04-2008, 06:18 PM
I think they went after him because he is a black man!
/sarcasm

NotAllBlack
09-04-2008, 07:08 PM
Damn anytime ive been in court Ive know what the judge was gonna do that day. Fines, jail, whatever. Of course ive only been in court for a dui and a drunk in public. But why the hell does it take so long for sentencing?

Morfin
09-05-2008, 09:08 AM
Damn anytime ive been in court Ive know what the judge was gonna do that day. Fines, jail, whatever. Of course ive only been in court for a dui and a drunk in public. But why the hell does it take so long for sentencing?

From this post, I think you can add "drunk while posting" to your DUI and drunk in public.

Morfin
09-05-2008, 09:15 AM
I am glad this part is over. Unfortunately, we now have to live with the specter of him running for office again in 5 years after his probation is done. While I, cynically, fear that he could be re-elected, we'll just have to wait and see (and hope) that the people don't fall for his crap again.

One thing we can be thankful for, besides Kwame resigning is that both Bully-Cummings and MacPhail have resigned and thus, City Hall has purged itself of 3 losers.

As to Monica Conyers, she is crazy and one of Kilpatrick's biggest defenders. Martha Reeves, elected because she once sang popular songs is also crazy and/or incredibly stupid. Barbara Rose Collins? A crook and an idiot.

Meanwhile, half the Council is being investigated by the FBI for bribes from the waste firm. This could all turn out really good if a large chunk of the Council is taken down and some new people are elected.

Even the cynical, like I, can hope that the sun will finally shine on this forsaken city.

janois
09-05-2008, 09:18 AM
I still want him to account for the murdered strippers
Agreed.


And isn't the reason Dennis Archer refused to run for reelection because he was done dealing with Conyers insanity?

janois
09-05-2008, 09:20 AM
I am glad this part is over. Unfortunately, we now have to live with the specter of him running for office again in 5 years after his probation is done. While I, cynically, fear that he could be re-elected, we'll just have to wait and see (and hope) that the people don't fall for his crap again.

One thing we can be thankful for, besides Kwame resigning is that both Bully-Cummings and MacPhail have resigned and thus, City Hall has purged itself of 3 losers.

As to Monica Conyers, she is crazy and one of Kilpatrick's biggest defenders. Martha Reeves, elected because she once sang popular songs is also crazy and/or incredibly stupid. Barbara Rose Collins? A crook and an idiot.

Meanwhile, half the Council is being investigated by the FBI for bribes from the waste firm. This could all turn out really good if a large chunk of the Council is taken down and some new people are elected.

Even the cynical, like I, can hope that the sun will finally shine on this forsaken city.

It may have been Sharon MacPhail and not Conyers I was thinking of. And I'm sure he'll turn up in five years and the public will still love him as he is the Hip-Hop Mayor.

redsox39
09-05-2008, 09:21 AM
Hey at least he wasn't busted for smoking Crack with Hookerson video tape!! I heard that hurts your re-election...oh, wait, no it doesn't...

People are retarded

janois
09-05-2008, 09:50 AM
Hey at least he wasn't busted for smoking Crack with Hookerson video tape!! I heard that hurts your re-election...oh, wait, no it doesn't...

People are retarded

That's already been brought up. If Barry can make a comeback, why not Kwame?

momsshizzle
09-05-2008, 11:06 AM
I am glad this part is over. Unfortunately, we now have to live with the specter of him running for office again in 5 years after his probation is done. While I, cynically, fear that he could be re-elected, we'll just have to wait and see (and hope) that the people don't fall for his crap again.




I thinking of DC's ex-mayor Marion Barry when I read you're statement.

Morfin
09-05-2008, 11:20 AM
That's already been brought up. If Barry can make a comeback, why not Kwame?

That is what scares the crap out of me.

freegood
09-05-2008, 11:27 AM
Corrupt politicians should be drawn and quartered. Spread their bits from Florida to Alaska.

Morfin
09-05-2008, 11:28 AM
Corrupt politicians should be drawn and quartered. Spread their bits from Florida to Alaska.

Yeah, but with that many "bits" we'd all have to wear rubber boots all the time. Burn 'em. Burn 'em. Just like the witches. That's what I say.

Emjanss
09-05-2008, 12:13 PM
finally.

Though I'm sure that an unwritten part of this agreement is that the prosecuter's office isn't going to aggressively persue other charges.

Maybe if some evidence is thrown into their lap, but otherwise probably this is the end of the charges against him.

Tar Heel
09-05-2008, 12:15 PM
Tell me the dead hooker story again.

Hanover Fist
09-05-2008, 02:32 PM
Tell me the dead hooker story again.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080819/METRO/808190377

Stripper persists as rumor in a rumor

George Hunter / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- "Nikki" doesn't have a face. Her name is just a rumor.
She is the elusive second stripper who supposedly danced at the Manoogian Mansion party that never officially happened. And though she is more legend than flesh, her specter will not go away.
Was there more than one stripper at the rumored party thrown by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? Did "Nikki" suffer the same fate as exotic dancer Tamara Greene, who was murdered after the phantom bash? Did they have a friend named "Paradise," who also supposedly danced at the party?
Those questions, long pondered by police and Web surfers alike, were brought to the forefront again when an emergency medical technician last week filed an affidavit in federal court claiming a bruised Greene told police she wasn't the only dancer who was assaulted by the mayor's wife during a raunchy party at the mayoral mansion. "I have every reason to believe there was more than one dancer at the party," said Norman Yatooma, an attorney who included the affidavit in his $150 million federal suit on behalf of Greene's survivors.
Lt. Michael Kerns, a supervisor with the Detroit Fire Department's EMT Division, claims he heard Greene tell undercover officers in fall 2002 that she "and her friend were dancing at the Manoogian Mansion and that the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, threw a fit, hit her and the other dancer, then kicked them out of the house."
The lawsuit brought last year by Greene's son, Jonathan Bond, and his father, Ernest Flagg, accuses the mayor, his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and other police officials of quashing an investigation into Greene's murder.
It's a claim that's repeatedly been denied and decried by police, city officials and Attorney General Mike Cox, who called the rumors an "urban legend."
Even so, his office is still looking into the claims. Kerns was interviewed by Cox's office on Wednesday, spokesman Rusty Hills said. Notes from that interview will be turned over to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, Hills said.
Detroit and State Police detectives have investigated whether Greene was the only dancer at the rumored party. Each probe turned up unconfirmed reports of a second stripper, possibly named Nikki, who was murdered near Atlanta around the same time Greene was killed.
Nothing concrete was uncovered -- but in both cases, the detectives looking into the rumors said their investigations were stymied by higher-ranking law enforcement officials.
Greene, 27, was killed in April 2003 while she sat in her car with her boyfriend, Eric Mitchell, in front of his Detroit home. Mitchell told police a man in a white SUV fired at them with a handgun.
Homicide Lt. Alvin Bowman, who investigated the drive-by murder, said he suspected Greene had links to "high-ranking city employees" and was killed by a Detroit police officer. A Wayne County jury awarded Bowman $200,000 last year after he filed a lawsuit claiming police officials transferred him out of the homicide section because he was investigating Greene's murder.
The legend of Greene's murder was given fresh credence Friday when Kimberly McConnell, a witness in Kilpatrick's assault case involving two court officers, was excused from testifying in court because she was afraid of the mayor, and she "didn't want to end up like Tamara Greene," said the mayor's attorney, James C. Thomas.
Kilpatrick has denied a party ever happened, and Bully-Cummings has repeatedly denied her department had anything to do with the murder. Cox asked the State Police to investigate the claims and concluded there was no party.
City officials did not respond to calls for further comment.
Investigators told The Detroit News recently they believe they know who really killed Greene: Darrett King, a convicted drug dealer who is serving time in prison for possession of a firearm. Sources told The News that King was feuding with Mitchell and that he assaulted Greene shortly before her death, and later bragged that he killed her.
But the conspiracy theory that Greene was killed by a Detroit cop because she knew too much persists, along with whispers about a second stripper named Nikki who supposedly was also shot after dancing at the mayor's party.
"The story about the second stripper is what got Bowman demoted," said his attorney, Mike Stefani. "The State Police told him they were investigating the Manoogian party, and that they had information about a second dancer who danced there who had been murdered in the Atlanta area.
"This woman supposedly was killed with a .40-caliber Glock, the same as Tamara Greene. (Bowman) asked permission to go to Atlanta to check out what the State Police told him, and that's when he was taken off the case."
According to police reports, State Police Detective Sgts. John Figurski and Mark Krebs talked in 2004 to a woman named Andrea Gary, a friend of Greene's who danced at the DéjÀ Vu club in Highland Park. Figurski asked whether she knew a stripper named Nikki. Gary said she didn't.
Gary told the detectives she'd heard there was more than one dancer at the Manoogian party.
She said she knew a waitress at the former All-Stars Club where Greene worked who knew details about the party.
During the interview, Gary phoned the waitress, a woman named Charlotte, who told her there were three strippers at the party: Greene, a dancer who used the stage name "Paradise," and a third woman who was killed in Atlanta.
"If some girls were with her at this party, (Greene) wasn't the only dancer there, right?" Figurski asked after Gary relayed what Charlotte told her. "Why wouldn't they come forward and talk to us?"
"Scared," Gary replied. "They're scared."

Genius
09-05-2008, 02:57 PM
Jesus, it's about time. The really sad thing is that there has been a marked improvement in areas of downtown Detroit over the past few years. I know Kwame can't take all the credit, but I at least have felt reasonable safe going to Tigers games and Hockeytown, which hasn't always been the case. But it really was amazing how much shit this guy pulled and only now is resigning.

Morfin
09-05-2008, 03:10 PM
No, what is amazing is that the Free Press started this story and, as a result, was able to topple a popular, very politically-connected politician. Remember, there was virtually no outrage when the original $8.4 verdict and settlement occurred, even though most people strongly suspected that the charges of the affair and resulting termination to cover it up. It is solely due to the Free Press reporters pressing the FOIA issue. Without that, even with the leaked text messages, I believe he would have survived.

Downtown Detroit is hanging on. Still with all the Ilitches have done, with Compuware, GM, and now Quicken/Rock coming downtown, many business people are leaving. How much Kwame had to do with that, I don't know. It is still a wasteland outside Detroit and a few isolated nice neighborhoods.

Hanover Fist
09-05-2008, 04:59 PM
0SODIFZXIPA&eurl

For the record I don't associate Obama with any of Kwame's wrongdoings. I realize Obama had to appease the Detroit black vote by acting close to Kwame. This ad was more for humor than anything else.

Okie Medicvet
09-06-2008, 02:26 AM
\sP1DzHBRJUo&feature

Emjanss
09-08-2008, 10:02 AM
0SODIFZXIPA&eurl

For the record I don't associate Obama with any of Kwame's wrongdoings. I realize Obama had to appease the Detroit black vote by acting close to Kwame. This ad was more for humor than anything else.
When the hell was that recorded?

janois
09-08-2008, 01:49 PM
When the hell was that recorded?

It was a year or two ago, before any news of this scandal took place.

Hanover Fist
09-08-2008, 02:30 PM
It was a year or two ago, before any news of this scandal took place.

Kwame has been involved in scandals almost from day 1 of his first term. From his wifes Escalade to his vacations paid for on the cities dime. This latest scandal that he actually plead guilty to was merely the icing on the cake. He has been a crook and stealing the cities money all along.

janois
09-08-2008, 02:33 PM
Kwame has been involved in scandals almost from day 1 of his first term. From his wifes Escalade to his vacations paid for on the cities dime. This latest scandal that he actually plead guilty to was merely the icing on the cake. He has been a crook and stealing the cities money all along.
I know, that's why I said this scandal. You forgot about the Police Motorcycles and his buddies who had no show jobs.

Hanover Fist
09-08-2008, 02:45 PM
And to think they had the chance after his first term to elect a respectable African American as Mayor and instead re-elected this piece of shit. Detroit pretty much deserves whatever crap they have to swallow for re-electing him. They should bulldoze the entire city and start over with an entirely new city and city council.

He also managed to approve like 16 massive raises for his buddies before he got the plug pulled on his mayoral powers. Without going through the city council no less.

Distortion
09-08-2008, 07:26 PM
what does detroit expect when the elect mini suge knight to run their city

wacker
09-08-2008, 07:58 PM
I went through Detroit for the second time this past weekend, if that was the city I was mayor of I'd want to go to jail too. Better accommodations.

JohnQRotten
09-10-2008, 08:44 AM
I don't know why we even allow people who've been convicted of felonies to run for office. Ever. Can anyone name one convicted felon that went straight and became a great politician? I can't think of one.