The biggest news of the day in Detroit, MI has to do with the sentencing of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Mr. Kilpatrick had been found guilty of over 24 federal counts against him. Many did not believe that he would be given the maximum sentence allowable under Michigan Law. However, Judge Nancy Edmunds made sure Mr. Kilpatrick felt the full force of sentencing possible. Many wonder if this is a justifiable sentence for the former Detroit Mayor. Many people would content that with the amount of money virtually stolen from a city in peril, this sentence is more than justified. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and Mr. Kilpatrick will have the opportunity to appeal this sentence. However, the feeling of many people I have spoke with in and out of the city is that Justice has been served in this instance.
“Kwame Kilpatrick can’t hurt Detroit anymore.It’s time, the judge said, for the city to start healing.
“That way of business is over,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said Tuesday in sentencing the former Detroit mayor to 28 years in prison in the historic public corruption case. “We’re done. We’re moving forward.”
In an emotional sentencing hearing that included scolding, apologizing and a rehashing of Detroit history during Kilpatrick’s tenure, Edmunds spent 25 minutes explaining not just what Kilpatrick did wrong — a long list that included taking bribes, steering contracts to his friend, extorting businessmen, deceiving donors to his nonprofit, living lavishly on the public’s dime and loading the city’s payroll with friends and family. She also stressed that Kilpatrick’s misdeeds taught Detroiters a lesson about the need for transparency, accountability and honest government.
■ PDF: Read Kwame Kilpatrick’s allocution and sentence
“One thing is certain,” she said of the costs of Kilpatrick’s corruption. “It was the citizens of Detroit who suffered.”
An expressionless Kilpatrick just sat in his chair and listened. Not knowing yet what his punishment would be, he had just spent roughly 25 minutes himself apologizing for many of his actions. He said he was sorry about the affair with his top aide Christine Beatty and “mad at people for finding out.” He said what came off as arrogance was “false confidence,” and that “this pride and ego” overtook him, even though all he ever wanted to do was become mayor of Detroit — a job he admitted to hating his first six months in office.
“I’ve been a tremendous problem for all the people who have felt that I let them down … I say with every morsel in my being that I’m sorry,” Kilpatrick said, later adding: “I just hope that one day I can forgive myself.”
He also said: “I’m incredibly remorseful.”
Still, Kilpatrick didn’t admit to anything that he was convicted of in the federal public corruption trial and challenged the government’s main theme in the case – that if you wanted work in Detroit, you had to hire Kilpatrick’s friend, Bobby Ferguson.
“That’s just not true,” Kilpatrick said.
That denouncement was not lost on U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade.
“I heard him apologize to the citizens of Detroit, but I also heard him deny stealing from the people of Detroit and deny stealing from the citizens of Detroit, which is in direct contradiction of what the jury found in this case,” said McQuade, who believes the sentence sends a strong message: “That the people of Detroit will not tolerate this abuse of power.”
In March, the jury convicted Kilpatrick on 24 counts that included racketeering conspiracy, bribery, extortion and fraud. During the six-month long trial, the government argued that Kilpatrick helped steer lucrative water and sewer contracts to Ferguson, who scored roughly $127 million in city contracts while his friend was mayor. Of that, more than $70 million worth of deals were obtained illegally, the government said.
During trial, the government presented text messages and dozens of witnesses that bolstered allegations that Kilpatrick’s relationship with Ferguson was at the heart of the criminal activity.
Ferguson was convicted on nine counts, including racketeering, extortion and fraud. Federal prosecutors are seeking a maximum 28-year prison sentence for Ferguson, who will be sentenced at 10 a.m. today.
“Bobby’s doing fine,” said Ferguson’s lawyer Mike Rataj, who attended Kilpatrick’s sentencing. He reiterated Kilpatrick’s argument: that Ferguson was successful before Kilpatrick was mayor, and that he earned every penny he got.
“Bobby Ferguson just didn’t drop out of the sky. He dug Comerica Park. He dug Ford Field. He was responsible for a lot of the buildings in and around downtown even before Mr. Kilpatrick became mayor,” Rataj said. “He employed people. They contributed to the economy. He took care of people. He fed poor people. And we hope that the judge takes all that into consideration.”
■ Blog replay: Kwame Kilpatrick sentenced to 28 years for wide-ranging public corruption
■ Related: Kwame Kilpatrick public corruption scandal, 2001-2013 (interactive timeline)
Detroit Mayor David Bing hopes the city will move on now that Kilpatrick has been sentenced.
“I’m glad that this negative chapter in Detroit’s history has finally come to an end for our citizens. Although I certainly feel for the Kilpatrick family and the impact this sentence will have on them, public service requires a higher standard of ethics and accountability,” Bing said in a statement. “(Thursday’s) sentencing sends a strong message to everyone in public office. As we move forward with Detroit’s transformation, honesty, transparency, and integrity in city leadership will be paramount.”
During sentencing, Edmunds also mentioned the city’s bankruptcy filing, noting that while Kilpatrick cannot be blamed for decades worth of social and economic problems in the city, his actions hurt the city.
“Corruption has its own cost,” she said, noting some of those costs are hard to measure, like businesses getting elbowed out or staying away due to a pay-to-play culture fostered by Kilpatrick, and the abuse of the public’s trust.
Edmunds said she will recommend Kilpatrick be sent to a prison in Texas, where his family lives, and told Kilpatrick he could appeal. He nodded his head from his seat.
Kilpatrick, whose wife and children were not in court, said he was sorry to those he let down, including his wife, children and parents. And like Edmunds, he, too, said it’s time for the city to move on.
“I want the city to heal,” he said. “I want the city to prosper. I want the city to be great in the end. I want the city to have the same feeling it did in 2006, when the Super Bowl was here. … Everybody felt like this was their town.”
Kilpatrick got choked up when talking about his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, who faces sentencing Oct. 17 on a single tax charge.
Kilpatrick pleaded with Edmunds to show his father lenience so that his children would have a father-figure in their lives.
“My father is a good man,” he said. “He’s a real good man.”
He said his father, talked “a lot of stuff … but he’s not a criminal.”
Harold Gurewitz, Kilpatrick’s attorney, has vowed an appeal and plans to file a notice of appeal within two weeks.
“I think it was too much,” Gurewitz said of the sentence. “It’s an extraordinary long time for someone to be incarcerated … I think less would have been sufficient.”
Before sentencing, Gurewitz highlighted other cases where public officials got lesser sentences, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison on corruption convictions in 2011.
Gurewitz also rattled off Kilpatrick’s accomplishments while serving as mayor, saying he improved the quality of life for people in Detroit and wanted to see the city become more vibrant and viable.
He said his client’s accomplishments have been overlooked, including the development of the Riverfront walkway and refurbishment of sewer lines that led to sporting events like the Super Bowl and All-Star Game.
“There was no questions that all these things were accomplished,” Gurewitz said. “But they are now overshadowed by the events that we are here for today.”
As they should be, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow, saying “this is one of the significant cases of public corruption” across the country and it occurred when Detroit was vulnerable.
“Mr. Kilpatrick systematically exploited his public office,” Chutkow said. “There has been no acceptance of any responsibility. … No contrition. No remorse.”
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com or 313-223-4296
By Tresa Baldas, Jim Schaefer, Gina Damron and Tammy Stables Battaglia
Detroit Free Press Staff Writers
http://www.freep.com/article/20131010/NEWS0102/310100095/Kwame-Kilpatrick-sentencing”
