Former Detroit mayor sentenced to 28 years in prison

Tresa Baldas and Jim Schaefer | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Kwame Kilpatrick's rise and fall in Detroit Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for running a "money-making racket" out of city hall that steered millions to himself, his family and friends while the impoverished city hobbled along.

In March%2C Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts of extortion%2C racketeering%2C bribery

Under sentencing guidelines%2C former mayor could have faced up to life in prison

Prosecutors had argued he deserved stiff sentence because he never thought he did anything wrong

DETROIT — Seven months after the historic conviction of Detroit's former mayor on wide-ranging public corruption charges, Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for running what the government called a money-making racket out of City Hall.

Kilpatrick had steered millions to himself, family and friends while an impoverished Detroit hobbled along, prosecutors said.

"The government has asked for a sentence of 28 years," U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said. "I believe that is in fact what his sentence should be." The defense had requested a 15-year sentence.

Kilpatrick, 43, was found guilty March 11 on 24 of 30 counts of corruption, including five counts of extortion, racketeering, bribery and several mail, wire and tax fraud charges. On three counts he was found not guilty, and on the remaining three no verdict was reached.

In this case, the overarching issue is that public officials are responsible to the citizenry, Edmunds said.

"One thing is certain," she said. "It was the citizens of Detroit who suffered."

Edmunds said Kilpatrick took bribes, misused nonprofit funds and "used his power as mayor ... to steer an astounding amount of business" to his friend and co-defendant, Bobby Ferguson, who also was convicted on charges of running a racket out of the mayor's office.

Text messages and witnesses bolstered allegations that Kilpatrick's relationship with Ferguson — whom the government has called the key player in the pair's extortion scheme — was at the heart of the criminal activity. Federal prosecutors are seeking a maximum 28-year prison sentence for Ferguson, whose sentencing is Friday.

Edmunds said she will recommend Kilpatrick be sent to a prison in Texas, where his family lives, and told Kilpatrick that he can appeal. Restitution will be determined later, and a hearing will happen within 90 days.

The judge said Kilpatrick lived the high life, hosting lavish parties, accepting cash tributes and loading the city's payroll with friends and family.

Despite a speech in court Thursday in which the former mayor spoke in a soft voice, asked for a fair sentence and said he accepted responsibility, Edmunds said Kilpatrick largely has shown little remorse. Kilpatrick's defense team had wanted Edmunds to consider Kilpatrick's accomplishments as mayor.

"He chose to waste his talents on personal aggrandizement and enrichment," Edmunds said. "We lost transparency. We lost accountability. ... That way of business is over. We're done."

Detroit's present mayor, David Bing, echoed that sentiment.

"I'm glad that this negative chapter in Detroit's history has finally come to an end," he said in a statement. "Today'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."

After the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said the judge sent a powerful message: "The people of Detroit will not tolerate this abuse of power."

The involvement of city officials and others compounded the seriousness of Kilpatrick's crimes, Edmunds said. Thirty-four others, including Kilpatrick's father, have been convicted in this public corruption case.

Kilpatrick said in court that he respects the justice system and the jury's verdict though he disagrees with it. Kilpatrick admitted he lied about having an affair with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. He also said he was sorry to those he let down — including his wife, children and parents. They were not in court.

"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."

Margaret Raben, one of Kilpatrick's lawyers, had objected earlier Thursday to a $9.6 million calculation that the federal government estimates Kilpatrick's conspiracy cost the city. That's how much the government said Ferguson made in illegal profits stemming from crooked contracts that Kilpatrick helped steer his way.

Raben argued that sources for the figure are unsubstantiated and that Kilpatrick's sentencing guidelines exceed what someone else might get for a violent crime.

After going through each of the contracts that were illegal, Edmunds took $5 million off the total, saying she would calculate the sentence based on a figure of $4.6 million. She had discretion to decide what she considered appropriate punishment, and Kilpatrick could have received as much as life in prison, according to sentencing guidelines.

Before the sentencing, Harold Gurewitz, another Kilpatrick lawyer, said the sentence that the government advocated — 28 years in prison at a minimum — "goes beyond what's necessary."

He said publicity in the case has made Kilpatrick a scapegoat for the past 50 years of the city's sins.

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.

Speaking Thursday in court, Kilpatrick said all he ever wanted to be was Detroit's mayor. Before taking office in 2001, the Democrat had served in Michigan's House of Representatives. He is the son of former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich.

But months into his mayoral job, Kilpatrick said he hated it. He said managing a city "is the hardest thing you can imagine." Yet he ran for a second term, resigning only when he was forced to, on Sept. 27, 2008.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow called the Kilpatrick case one of the most significant cases of public corruption in the country.

While Kilpatrick was mayor, Ferguson received more than $127 million in contracts, according to the government. Of that, at least $76 million in contracts were obtained illegally through the pair's extortion scheme, which involved elbowing competing contractors out of deals and shaking down others to cut Ferguson in on their contracts.

"He was responsible for a lot of the buildings in and around here downtown even before Mr. Kilpatrick became mayor," Ferguson's lawyer, Mike Rataj, said of his client. "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 tomorrow."

Contributing: Gina Damron and Tammy Stables Battaglia, Detroit Free Press

The rise and fall of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Detroit Free Press presents the rise and fall of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who once said God anointed him to run Detroit. But a text scandal took his job and his freedom, and charges that awaited him in federal court were even more devastating.

What's next

• Friday: Kwame Kilpatrick's co-defendent and long-time friend, Bobby Ferguson will be sentenced at 10 a.m. on nine convictions including racketeering, bribery and extortion. Prosecutors have asked for a maximum 28-year sentence; the defense wants 10 years.

• Oct. 17: Kilpatrick's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, will be sentenced at 2 p.m. on a single tax charge. He faces up to three years in prison.

Unscheduled sentencings

• Derrick Miller was Kilpatrick's former right-hand man and co-defendant who testified against the former mayor at trial. Miller pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion. He faces up to 10 years in prison but likely will receive a shorter sentence because of his co-operation.

• Victor Mercado, former head of the city water department, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and steering contracts to Ferguson. He faces up to 18 months in prison and a $100,000 fine.