Detroit Mayor Indicted On Perjury, Misconduct, Obstruction Charges
“Don’t you know who I am? I’m the Juggernaut, beehatch!”
He’s not worried, Al Sharpton’s about to show up on the scene screaming “Racism!”
DETROIT - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit’s youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.
Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.
“Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private,” Worthy said.
“The justice system has been severely mocked and the public trust trampled on. … This case is about as far from being a private matter as one can get,” she said.
The charges could signal the end of Kilpatrick’s six-year career as mayor of one of America’s largest cities.
Perjury is a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But for Kilpatrick, a conviction also would mean his immediate expulsion from office. The Detroit City Charter calls for any elected official convicted of a felony while in office to be removed.
Kilpatrick has said he would not resign and last week said he expects to be vindicated when all aspects of the scandal are made public.
The mayor was expected to hold a news conference at noon. Worthy said she expected the mayor and Beatty to turn themselves in by 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Worthy has said she and her staff have pored over more than 40,000 pages of documents since January, when the Detroit Free Press published excerpts of sexually explicit text messages sent to Beatty’s city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.
The messages contradict statements Kilpatrick and Beatty gave under oath during a whistleblowers’ trial last summer when each denied a romantic relationship.
Their testimony came in a lawsuit filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.
Kilpatrick is married with three children. Beatty was married at the time and has two children.
In all, Kilpatrick faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.
Beatty is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.
Worthy also said the investigation was ongoing and other people could be charged. She said she has had conversations with the U.S. attorney, but would not elaborate.
(AP)
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But…but, I thought Democrats never did wrong! I thought it was only those evil Republicans, and their “Culture of Corruption,” as the saintly Nancy Pelosi told us!
March 24th, 2008 at 9:09 amA.S im as shocked as you are. I feel the DemocRats have really let us down today and they will have to work hard to reconstruct their moral superiority.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:10 amIts just more RACIST accusations but the uh uh - Right Wing MEDIA!
March 24th, 2008 at 9:25 amYeah - Thats IT!
ha! sharpton with another criminal scumbag!!! you can judge someones character by the company they keep
March 24th, 2008 at 9:33 amI’m withholding my judgement until he gives us his definition of “is.” (sarc off)
So who will he blame it on?
VRWC?
March 24th, 2008 at 9:37 amThe eeeeeeevil Bush Administration?
White racism?
His grandmother?
All of the above?
That’s a nice suit!
March 24th, 2008 at 10:27 amTheir is more to the story, involving Dead Strippers.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:39 amI am from Michigan and have followed this story closely.
There is a LOT more to this story - yes. It is alledged that the mayor and his bodyguards had a party at the city owned mansion and the mayor’s wife walked in on a stripper giving the mayor a lap dance and she assaulted the stripper. Low and behold a couple months later the stripper is killed in a “drive by shooting”. Then a couple cops investigating her murder and the party rumors are fired by the mayor when they discover he is boinking his chief of staff. They sued and won almost 6.5 million that was later upped to almost 9 million when the text messages of the affair came to light.
I read the depositions of the cops and body guards and it was unbelievable what this skunk of a mayor was doing. He paid many a late nite visits to prositutes and subordinates working on his staff. There is a big cover up but I think it will all come to light eventually. It has been quite entertaining actually because there is nothing to cheer about in Michigan!
March 24th, 2008 at 10:57 amEver since the LA riots and the black reaction to the OJ trial I have had a really bad feeling about black and white relations in this country. Black leaders like Mayor Kwame or like Marion Barry in DC can do anything and still be re-elected because their supporters think they are sticking it to the white man(I guess or they are just ignorant).Real leaders(who happen to be black)like Condi Rice, Thomas Sowell or Colin Powell are vilified as house slaves. I thought Obama was going to be different but if he associates with Rev Wright, and Sharpton he can kiss my vote goodbye.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:57 pmMark;
March 25th, 2008 at 1:24 amany time free passes are being handed out, you can expect the socios to gather like moths to flame.