Unbelievable news from my home town, The D, the Motor City, Motown. Such a shame. Obviously, it’s wrong to lie under oath and he should not have violated his bond, but doesn’t this city have bigger problems to tackle!? Say the decline of the big three, unemployment rates, or the brain drain? The city is its own worst enemy. What do you think?
From the Associated Press today…
Detroit mayor ordered jailed after bond violation
By Corey Williams and Ed White – 22 minutes ago
DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been ordered to the county jail after a judge found the mayor violated the terms of his bond by going to Canada and not informing the court.
The ruling by Judge Ronald Giles came after the mayor apologized to the court, saying it won’t happen again.
The judge says he would have given the same treatment to any criminal defendant.
Kilpatrick’s attorneys say they immediately will appeal the ruling.
Earlier Thursday, Kilpatrick waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will head to trial on perjury and other criminal charges.
He has denied the charges.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
DETROIT (AP) — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Thursday and will stand trial on perjury and other charges that could land him in prison for up to 15 years.
Lawyers for the mayor and ex-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty asked Detroit District Court Judge Ronald Giles to waive next month’s preliminary examination. The criminal case now heads to Wayne County Circuit Court for trial.
Kilpatrick attorney James Parkman said going straight to circuit court will speed up the case.
Kilpatrick and Beatty are charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They are accused of lying about having an intimate relationship and their roles in the firing of a police official.
Both deny the charges.
Giles asked the defendants during Thursday morning’s hearing if they freely agreed to waive their rights to a preliminary exam and both said they did.
The judge then set a circuit court arraignment date of Aug. 14.
The preliminary exam — a hearing where a judge determines whether there’s probable cause to hold a trial — had been set for Sept. 22.
The Wayne County prosecutor’s office on Thursday also asked Giles to punish Kilpatrick because it said the mayor failed to notify the court of a trip to Canada.
Assistant prosecutor Robert Moran argued Kilpatrick should have told Giles of the trip. The mayor went across the border last month to push the sale of the city’s half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
Kilpatrick is required to alert the court of all travel plans.
Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath during a civil trial last year that they had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003.
But excerpts of sexually explicit text messages recovered from Beatty’s city-issued pager and first published in January by the Detroit Free Press contradicted their testimony.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and Beatty less than two months later. Fingerprinted with their booking photos broadcast across the country, the pair were accused of lying under oath about their relationship and about their roles in the firing of a police official.
More text messages released in April revealed the evolution of flirty and sexually explicit exchanges to professions of love and promises of marriage.
Kilpatrick and his high-priced team of attorneys have questioned the authenticity of those and other text messages, while fighting battles on several legal and political fronts.
A split city council voted in February to ask Kilpatrick to step down. The nine-member group later asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove the mayor for misconduct and plans to hold forfeiture of office proceedings against him.
The council accused Kilpatrick of violating the city charter by not revealing a confidentiality agreement linked to an $8.4 million settlement in the civil lawsuit.
Through it all Kilpatrick has remained defiant.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Bigger fish to fry? No, I’d say that taking care of that mess of a mayor should be the first thing on Detroit’s priority list. The man is a consistent embarrassment to the city. How can a city with such terrible leadership tackle any other problem with any level of success? Once Kwame is out of the picture, the city will be much better off.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I completely agree with Brendan’s post. It’s a very sad time for Detroit. As talented as Kwame Kilpatrick is as a speaker and sometimes as a motivator to various groups/businesses, he has ultimately failed the City of Detroit through seemingly continuous selfish and immature behavior including very serious scandals pervasive through both terms of his mayoral reign thus far. He typically resorts to MACHIAVEILIAN tactics in the politics of personal and professional destruction of anyone that may publicly disagree with his approach and/or administration. This is once again evidenced by the 2 police officers that he had fired, without cause, which cost the City over USD$8 million in taxpayer money to fight in court…just one example.
I believe Kwame Kilpatrick has diminished all good will in the community through his political and legal issues, wherein his TRUE raw talent and charisma can not be put to any good use for Detroit going forward. Many residents and business leaders are embarrassed by this unbelievable behavior – which does not bode well for any proposed infusion of capital, development and/or new businesses into the City. During Kilpatrick’s campaign not to be dismissed during some of his previous scandals and being giving a self-described “second chance blessing” by Detroit’s voters and business leaders during his surprising re-election (and subsequent 3rd and 4th chances), his inherint talent is wasted by his own vices and bad choices. Detroit’s reputation has been so greatly diminished on the national stage due to his actions and his squandering of the city’s scarce resources, as it has by the automotives depleting the City and State. True leadership is required in such tough times, the type of leadership Roger Penske exhibited when organizing a highly successful SuperBowl in Detroit a few years ago. Kilpatrick can no longer procure the necessary trust and support from business leaders to transform the city…it is usually his relatives and “yes men” that seem to back him and prosper, most others have stepped away from this train wreck of an administration. When backed in a corner with difficulty, Mr. Mayor now begins to “race-bate” to try and rally with an “Us vs. Them” approach…truly unbelievable. This is NO WAY for any individual/professional to act in any setting or situation, not to mention a publicly elected “LEADER” of a top tier city in the United States of all places. Further, Michigan has been suffering in a very deep economic downturn/recession for the past 3 years, in which the rest of the country is just now starting to feel. During this period, the Mayor of Michigan’s largest and most influential city continues to battle with City counsel, legal issues (alleged obstructing justice and perjury charges), and scandals continue to amplify Detroit’s problems to the world vs. having a solid leader rally the City towards a true resurgence. How can this individual be a positive influence for the City…he needs to resign or be removed from office IMMEDIATELY…if he truly “LOVES THE CITY OF DETROIT” as he often states in public…he should love it enough through the personal sacrifice of his resignation and give the city a fighting chance to rebound over the next 5+ years.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am
my friends report…”GREAT TIMES in the D…this week we have a significant international event, PGA Golf Tournament (one of 4 majors) at Oakland Hills, with press and journalist literally from around the globe…and the up mayor is the ONLY story over ALL local networks in lieu of the international crowd visiting MI and the tournament itself.”