Federal judge denies motion for ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
A judge balked at the request for the disgraced former politician to have his sentence reduced, leaving little in the way of options for him now
Former Detroit mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, was unsuccessful in convincing a federal judge to reduce his prison time on charges of corruption because of alleged errors the court made in instructing jurors.
Kilpatrick, 48, has petitioned the court previously to overthrow his 28-year sentence for extortion, racketeering, bribery, conspiracy and other charges when he was sentenced in 2013, according to The Detroit News.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds denied Kilpatrick’s latest motion that alleged the court improperly instructed jurors, unjustly allowed hearsay and that his defense lawyer had a conflict of interest in the case. Edmunds questioned why none of this was brought up in an earlier appeal.
In her motion, Edmunds wrote Kilpatrick failed to show “actual innocence” and that the evidence against him “weighed heavily” thus resulting in his guilty verdicts.
Kilpatrick was once a promising mayor on the verge of perhaps a larger political office in the House or Senate. But the mayor resigned in disgrace in 2008 after he was embroiled in a text messaging sex scandal with his chief of staff. In that case, Fitzpatrick pled guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice and served about a year in jail. He also agreed to repay the city of Detroit $1 million in restitution.
In 2013, Kilpatrick was convicted of extortion for using his power as mayor to steer water and sewer contracts to his friend, Bobby Ferguson. Ferguson was also convicted on corruption charges in 2013 and sentenced to 21 years in federal prison.
According to The Detroit News, a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court will not review Kilpatrick’s case.
The ex-mayor now hopes President Donald Trump will. He is seeking clemency from Trump, although his case reportedly doesn’t meet the Justice Department’s criteria for sentence reduction.
