DETROIT -- Jurors in a city buffeted by financial crisis convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on corruption charges Monday, capping a five-month trial that exposed a brazen pay-to-play culture during his years in office while the distressed city lost jobs and people and veered toward insolvency.
Kilpatrick, whose family moved to North Texas after he left office, could face more than 10 years in prison for two dozen convictions, from racketeering conspiracy to bribery to tax crimes. Once hailed as a hip, young big-city leader, he was portrayed at trial as an unscrupulous politician who took kickbacks, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means."Kwame Kilpatrick didn't lead the city. He looted the city," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in victory.At the government's urging, Kilpatrick, 42, was ordered to jail to await his sentence, along with Bobby Ferguson, a city contractor who benefited from having a pal as mayor and also was convicted.Businesses said they were forced to hire Ferguson as a subcontractor or risk losing work through the city's water department. Separately, fundraiser Emma Bell said she gave Kilpatrick more than $200,000 as his personal cut of political donations, pulling cash from her bra during private meetings at city hall. A high-ranking aide, Derrick Miller, told jurors that he often was the middle man, passing bribes from others.Internal Revenue Service agents said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his salary as mayor, from 2002 to fall 2008."I saw a lot that really, really turned my stomach," said a female juror, a Detroit resident who had voted twice for Kilpatrick when he ran for mayor.The trial occurred at a time of extraordinary crisis in Detroit. Detroit's woes were decades in the making, but Kilpatrick's crimes certainly fueled perceptions that he and his staff were far adrift, selfishly lining their pockets.Detroit's budget deficit topped $300 million by 2008 when Kilpatrick was forced out in a different scandal, a series of lies to cover up an extramarital affair with a top aide.Kwame Kilpatrick, whose family now lives in Grand Prairie, declined to testify. He had long denied any wrongdoing.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
