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Kilpatrick
Corruption
Case A
'Classic
Greek
Tragedy'
by Quinn
Klinefelter/NPR
DETROIT
- The
city of
Detroit
is
preparing
for what
could be
the
highest-profile
public
corruption
trial in
its
history.
Former
Detroit
Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick
faces
federal
charges
that he
used
city
government
to
operate
a
widespread
criminal
enterprise.
In 2008,
the
then-mayor
was
embroiled
in a
scandal
over
racy
text
messages
to his
mistress,
and his
family
was
being
pursued
for
interviews
by what
he
labeled
a white
racist
media.
At the
end of a
televised
State of
the City
address,
before a
handpicked
crowd of
supporters,
Kilpatrick
fired
back at
his
critics.
"We've
never
been in
a
situation
like
this
before,
where
you can
say
anything,
do
anything,
have no
facts,
no
research,
no
nothing,
and you
can
launch a
hate-driven,
bigoted
assault
on a
family,"
Kilpatrick
said.
Six
months
later, a
far more
subdued
Kilpatrick
resigned
from
office
and
admitted
to a
judge
he'd
lied
about
the text
messages
during a
deposition.
"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 the
jury,
and to
impede
and
obstruct
the fair
administration
of
justice,"
Kilpatrick
says.
He was
sentenced
to four
months
in jail
and $1
million
restitution.
But
while on
probation,
a judge
found
him
guilty
of
hiding
assets
and
sentenced
him to
14
months
of
prison
time.
In 2010,
the
federal
government
dramatically
raised
the
stakes.
Kilpatrick
and
three
others
were
indicted
for a
different
crime —
38
federal
counts
including
racketeering,
bribery
and tax
evasion.
U.S.
Attorney
Barbara
McQuade
said
that
Kilpatrick
ran city
government
like an
organized
crime
family,
shaking
down
city
contractors
for
bribes.
"From
what
I've
seen, it
was a
way of
doing
business
in the
Kilpatrick
administration:
'City
contracts
are an
opportunity
for us
to make
money,'
" says
McQuade.
Kilpatrick
— once
embraced
by
Democratic
Party
insiders
as a
rising
political
star —
has long
been a
polarizing
figure
in
Detroit.
At age
31, he
was the
youngest
mayor
ever
elected
in the
city. He
cultivated
a brash
image
while
installing
friends
and
family
in key
government
positions.
Now some
of those
friends
are
witnesses
in the
federal
corruption
trial
against
him.
"It's
not so
much the
law
that's
interesting.
But
there
are some
of the
elements
of the
classic
Greek
tragedy,"
says
Peter
Henning,
a former
federal
prosecutor
and a
Wayne
State
University
law
professor.
Henning
says the
government's
case
hinges
on
wiretaps,
the
infamous
text
messages
and
testimony
from
some of
Kilpatrick's
childhood
friends
who
worked
in his
administration.
"These
are his
buddies
who have
now
turned
on him.
And
that's
where
prosecutors
have to
be
careful,
because
a
witness
can
equivocate.
Might
that
send a
message
to a
jury
that,
well,
maybe
there's
just not
enough
evidence
here?"
Henning
says.
Kilpatrick
and his
family
moved to
a Dallas
suburb
in 2008.
But he
met
weeks
ago with
the
Detroit
chapter
of the
National
Association
of Black
Journalists
and told
them he
welcomes
the
chance
to clear
his name
in
federal
court.
"So many
people
in
Detroit
say,
'Kwame
stole
money.'
Ha. I
have
never
stole a
damn
dime in
my life
from
anybody.
And I'm
not even
charged
with
that,
oddly.
You
know,
that
just
became
kind of
like
community
folklore,
'cause
if you
hear
every
day
somebody's
a
criminal,
crook,
thug,
you
kinda
just go
with
it," he
said.
A
federal
jury
will
likely
be
seated
this
week.
The
trial
could
last
four
months.
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