Kwame Kilpatrick Found Guilty in Federal Trial

The Huffington Post is reporting that a jury has found former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick guilty of multiple counts of racketeering and exortion, attempted extortion, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing false tax returns.

Both Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson were found guilty on most counts. Kilpatrick's 71-year-old father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was only found guilty of one tax count.

Jurors deliberated for 15 days before announcing that they were ready to vote on a verdict. The 12 members of this jury have spent 79 hours total deliberating all the details from the five-month trial.

Reporters in the courtroom said the three men all maintained stoic exteriors as the verdicts were read over seven minutes' time. The former Detroit mayor was convicted of 24 out of 30 total charges. Contractor Bobby Ferguson was convicted of nine out of 11 total counts. The jury reached a unanimous decision on 45 of 50 total felony charges levied by prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds thanked the 12 members of the jury before reading the verdict, saying, "These jurors did an extraordinary job."

A statement sent to The Huffington Post by current Mayor Dave Bing said, "I am pleased that this long trial has ended and we can finally put this negative chapter in Detroit’s history behind us. It is time for all of us to move forward with a renewed commitment to transparency and high ethical standards in our City government.”

Read more at the Huffington Post.

Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.  

 

Tweet