Post by pinkngreen06 on Sept 4, 2008 8:23:20 GMT -5
Detroit Mayor Court Hearing Set To Begin
Mayor Expected To Accept Deal On Thursday
POSTED: 4:49 pm EDT September 3, 2008
UPDATED: 8:46 am EDT September 4, 2008
DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to accept a plea deal on Thursday in his perjury case that will end his tenure as the city's mayor and send him to jail.
Sources told Local 4, just past 9:00 p.m on Wednesday, the mayor and his legal team agreed to a deal, which includes the following: Immediate resignation; plead guilty to 2 felonies; pay restitution of $1 million; spend 4 months in jail; and cannot run for public office for 5 years.
Sources told Local 4 the mayor is expected in court at 9 a.m. Thursday in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner, where he will reportedly go on record and accept this deal.
At 4:41pm Wednesday afternoon, the Wayne County Prosecutor's office sent an email which said a plea deal may be imminent in the Kilpatrick text scandal case. The email also said the deal would become official at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in front of Chief Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Edward Ewell. But spokeswoman Maria Miller later clarified and said, "We believe it may take place" Thursday.
Details of Kilpatrick's plea deal have not been released. However, Local 4 has learned Kilpatrick's lawyers are still going over the final wording of the deal, and if they are satisfied with the deal, they will enter a guilty plea Thursday.
Kilpatrick's most visible attorney, Jim Thomas, said in a news conference Wednesday that he does not know the details of the plea deal.
"It's not my function to negotiate a plea," said Thomas. "It looks as if it's going to happen and if it does, it will bring to a close the criminal trial that we have worked so steadfast on."
Kilpatrick's lawyers and the prosecutor's office have gone back and forth on several terms of the plea deal.
The mayor proposed a deal over the weekend that said he would resign, plead guilty to at least two felony charges, pay a six-figure restitution and not run for office for two years, Rescue 4 Investigators confirmed.
To avoid prison time, Kilpatrick would do 300 hours of community service with disabled and homeless people, be on probation for five years, surrender his law license and sign over his state pension to the city.
Initially, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy counter offered Kilpatrick's deal with six months in jail, she later reduced the jail time to four months. Worthy has said jail time for Kilpatrick is necessary but that the actual jail time could be somewhere in between.
Worthy's deal also modified Kilpatrick's offer not to run for office for two years to five years.
Worthy also reportedly wanted Kilpatrick to plead guilty to at least two of the eight felonies against him because if he pleads guilty to just one felony, his record could be expunged within a year.
Rescue 4 cameras filmed a seemingly content Kilpatrick leaving meetings with his attorneys Wednesday morning.
Kilpatrick, 38, and in his second four-year term as mayor, is charged with 10 felonies in two cases.
In the first case, he and Beatty are charged with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They are accused of lying during the 2007 whistle-blowers' trial about having an extramarital affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.
Text messages from Beatty's city-issued pager contradicted their testimony.
In the second case, Kilpatrick is charged with two counts of assault after he allegedly shoved a Wayne County detective into an investigator while they were trying to serve his friend a subpoena.
The Michigan Attorney General's plea deal offered to Kilpatrick in the assault charges expired Wednesday. The attorney general's deal included resignation, and that he pleads guilty to one of the two assault charges against him.
Cox told Local 4 he has not yet heard from Kilpatrick or his attorneys regarding a plea deal. He also said, although the deal has expired, he is open to counter offers. But if there is no deal, Cox is prepared to go to trial.
Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm concluded the first day of a hearing that could oust Kilpatrick from office.
The hearing will resume Thursday, one hour after the conclusion of the expected plea deal hearing, said a Granholm spokeswoman.
Mayor Expected To Accept Deal On Thursday
POSTED: 4:49 pm EDT September 3, 2008
UPDATED: 8:46 am EDT September 4, 2008
DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to accept a plea deal on Thursday in his perjury case that will end his tenure as the city's mayor and send him to jail.
Sources told Local 4, just past 9:00 p.m on Wednesday, the mayor and his legal team agreed to a deal, which includes the following: Immediate resignation; plead guilty to 2 felonies; pay restitution of $1 million; spend 4 months in jail; and cannot run for public office for 5 years.
Sources told Local 4 the mayor is expected in court at 9 a.m. Thursday in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner, where he will reportedly go on record and accept this deal.
At 4:41pm Wednesday afternoon, the Wayne County Prosecutor's office sent an email which said a plea deal may be imminent in the Kilpatrick text scandal case. The email also said the deal would become official at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in front of Chief Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Edward Ewell. But spokeswoman Maria Miller later clarified and said, "We believe it may take place" Thursday.
Details of Kilpatrick's plea deal have not been released. However, Local 4 has learned Kilpatrick's lawyers are still going over the final wording of the deal, and if they are satisfied with the deal, they will enter a guilty plea Thursday.
Kilpatrick's most visible attorney, Jim Thomas, said in a news conference Wednesday that he does not know the details of the plea deal.
"It's not my function to negotiate a plea," said Thomas. "It looks as if it's going to happen and if it does, it will bring to a close the criminal trial that we have worked so steadfast on."
Kilpatrick's lawyers and the prosecutor's office have gone back and forth on several terms of the plea deal.
The mayor proposed a deal over the weekend that said he would resign, plead guilty to at least two felony charges, pay a six-figure restitution and not run for office for two years, Rescue 4 Investigators confirmed.
To avoid prison time, Kilpatrick would do 300 hours of community service with disabled and homeless people, be on probation for five years, surrender his law license and sign over his state pension to the city.
Initially, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy counter offered Kilpatrick's deal with six months in jail, she later reduced the jail time to four months. Worthy has said jail time for Kilpatrick is necessary but that the actual jail time could be somewhere in between.
Worthy's deal also modified Kilpatrick's offer not to run for office for two years to five years.
Worthy also reportedly wanted Kilpatrick to plead guilty to at least two of the eight felonies against him because if he pleads guilty to just one felony, his record could be expunged within a year.
Rescue 4 cameras filmed a seemingly content Kilpatrick leaving meetings with his attorneys Wednesday morning.
Kilpatrick, 38, and in his second four-year term as mayor, is charged with 10 felonies in two cases.
In the first case, he and Beatty are charged with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They are accused of lying during the 2007 whistle-blowers' trial about having an extramarital affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.
Text messages from Beatty's city-issued pager contradicted their testimony.
In the second case, Kilpatrick is charged with two counts of assault after he allegedly shoved a Wayne County detective into an investigator while they were trying to serve his friend a subpoena.
The Michigan Attorney General's plea deal offered to Kilpatrick in the assault charges expired Wednesday. The attorney general's deal included resignation, and that he pleads guilty to one of the two assault charges against him.
Cox told Local 4 he has not yet heard from Kilpatrick or his attorneys regarding a plea deal. He also said, although the deal has expired, he is open to counter offers. But if there is no deal, Cox is prepared to go to trial.
Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm concluded the first day of a hearing that could oust Kilpatrick from office.
The hearing will resume Thursday, one hour after the conclusion of the expected plea deal hearing, said a Granholm spokeswoman.
