Kilpatrick Evicted From Mayor Mansion

DETROIT -- Detroit's mayor has a deadline for moving out of the city's official mayoral residence now that he has pleaded guilty and is resigning.

Officials say Kwame Kilpatrick and his wife and three sons are expected to be out of the city's Manoogian Mansion by midnight on Sept. 18.

A spokesman for incoming Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. said Monday that if Kilpatrick has a problem with that date he should discuss it with Cockrel.

Kilpatrick also has until Sept. 18 to vacate his offices at City Hall. Cockrel takes over as mayor on Sept. 19.

Kilpatrick resigned last week and pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice. He also pleaded no contest to one count of assault. He will serve four months in jail and five years probation after an Oct. 28 sentencing.

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Detroit Mayor to Resign in Plea Deal

DETROIT (Sept. 4) -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has agreed to plead guilty to obstruction charges and will step down after more than six years leading the nation's 11th-largest city.

The plea deal was announced during a court hearing Thursday and brings to an end a seven-months-long sex scandal that led to felony charges against Kilpatrick and plunged the city, region and state into political chaos.

As part of the plea deal, the 38-year-old Democrat is expected to serve jail time.

The married mayor and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They're accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.

Beatty did not plead guilty and next will appear in court on Sept. 11.

Beatty also was in court Thursday as was Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita.

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DETROIT (Aug. 31) - Lawyers for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick have proposed a deal in which he would plead guilty to two felonies, make restitution and serve five years' probation in exchange for avoiding jail time, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Detroit Free Press quoted "a source familiar with all aspects of the negotiations" as saying Kilpatrick's legal team also said he would give up his law license, not run for office for two years and do 300 hours of community service.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy hadn't yet accepted the offer, the newspaper said. A person briefed on the talks told The Associated Press on Sunday that the prosecutor's office would not agree to any type of plea that doesn't involve jail time. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of not wanting to publicly reveal specifics of the talks.

One Kilpatrick lawyer, James Thomas, told AP on Sunday morning that he had been out of town for a few days and was unaware of the plea deal proposal. He said that even if he had been aware of it he couldn't comment on it.

Kilpatrick, 38 and in his second four-year term as mayor, is charged with 10 felonies in two cases. He also faces removal proceedings set to begin Wednesday before Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

The newspaper said the mayor would turn over his state pension to the city. Kilpatrick is a former member of the state House, where he was leader of the Democratic minority. It said he also would make at least $100,000 in restitution.

The newspaper said that in a letter to Worthy, Kilpatrick's lawyers proposed having a neutral "legal statesman" assess the offer. It didn't identity the lawyers.

On Tuesday, Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Ziolkowski is expected to decide whether to grant Kilpatrick's request to postpone the hearing before Granholm. The Detroit City Council is asking Granholm to use her constitutional power


to remove Kilpatrick from office. It says the mayor misled council members into approving an $8.4 million settlement with fired police officers in a whistle-blowers' lawsuit. The council says it didn't know the deal included provisions to keep a cover on romantic text messages between Kilpatrick and his top aide.

Kilpatrick also would be forced from office if convicted of a felony in either of the two criminal cases.

In the first case, he and ex-top aide Christine Beatty are charged with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They are accused of lying during the 2007 whistle-blowers' trial about having an extramarital affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.

Text messages from Beatty's city-issued pager contradicted their testimony.

The other charges against the mayor stem from a confrontation in July. A sheriff's detective says Kilpatrick shoved him into another investigator as they were attempting to serve a subpoena on a friend of the mayor for the perjury case.