DETROIT (USA TODAY) -- A jury concluded Monday that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick ran a criminal enterprise
- complete with extortion, bribes and kickbacks - while he was the
mayor of Michigan's largest city, and a federal judge ordered him to be
put behind bars immediately.
The panel convicted him and
contractor friend Bobby Ferguson of running a racket out of the mayor's
office for years to enrich themselves, and a federal judge said they
both will be detained while awaiting sentencing. In some cases, longtime
friends testified they handed cash to Kilpatrick in envelopes.
Kilpatrick
was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, including five counts of extortion,
racketeering, bribery and several mail, wire and tax fraud charges
during a five-month trial in which he was portrayed as an unscrupulous
politician who took bribes, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his
means while in office. On three counts he was found not guilty, and on
another three the jury deadlocked.
The convictions ensure a return
to prison for a Democrat once among the nation's youngest big-city
leaders until he resigned in fall 2008. Each defendant could spend up to
20 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set yet.
Kilpatrick's
contractor buddy, Bobby Ferguson, was found guilty on nine of 11
counts, including racketeering and several counts of extortion. He was
found not guilty on one count and no verdict was reached on another.
The
ex-mayor's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was convicted on one count of
filing a false tax return, but jurors acquitted him attempted extortion
and another tax charge and deadlocked a racketeering charge. He will
remain free on bond until his sentencing.
U.S. District Judge
Nancy Edmunds said the jury reached unanimous agreement Friday on 40 of
the 45 counts but wanted a chance to reflect further over the weekend.
Prosecutors want all three men to be detained, a request that Edmunds is
addressing at a hearing now.
Interviewed after the verdict was
announced, jurors said they took each charge seriously and "strictly
looked at the evidence," as one juror said.
There was "passion ... to see that the right thing was done," Juror No. 8 said.
Witnesses told of Kwame Kilpatrick's lavish lifestyle - complete with
luxury vacations, custom-made suits and golf outings - despite being at
the helm of a city so broke it was on the verge of a state-appointed
emergency financial manager to right its finances.
Internal Revenue Service agents said Kwame Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his mayoral salary.
The
verdict is another defeat for the man who left office in 2008 amid an
unrelated scandal involving sexually explicit text messages and an
affair with an aide.
Kwame Kilpatrick shook his head at times as
Monday's verdicts were read and appeared stunned as he left the
courtroom under orders to return in the afternoon.
Business owners
said they were forced to hire Ferguson as a subcontractor or risk
losing city contracts. Separately, fundraiser Emma Bell said she gave
Kwame Kilpatrick more than $200,000 as his personal cut of political
donations, pulling cash from her bra during private meetings. A
high-ranking aide, Derrick Miller, told jurors that he often was the
middle man, passing bribes from others.
The most serious charges,
including racketeering and mail fraud, carry maximum 20-year prison
sentences. Other crimes in the indictment, such as bribery and
extortion, each carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence. The Kilpatricks
also faced tax charges, which carry three-year maximum prison
sentences.
Coming out of the courthouse, Bernard Kilpatrick was asked whether he believes the jury got it wrong.
"Absolutely," he said.
Kwame Kilpatrick would not comment.
"God is good," Ferguson said when asked for his reaction.
The
former mayor's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, faced four counts: one
racketeering, one extortion, and two filing false tax returns.
The
five-month trial included 80 government witnesses, scores of financial
documents, text messages and secret audio and video recordings.
The
Kilpatricks were accused of shaking down contractors and rigging bids
to help steer lucrative contracts to Ferguson. Prosecutors said the
philosophy of the enterprise was simple: If you wanted work in the city
of Detroit, you either had to hire Ferguson, or in some cases, hire the
mayor's father as a consultant.
The jury also heard plenty about
Kwame Kilpatrick's lavish lifestyle and his nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic
Fund, which the government said the then-mayor used as a personal piggy
bank. The fund was meant for voter education and youth, but Kwame
Kilpatrick used it for everything from yoga lessons and vacation
getaways to college tuition for his relatives and spy equipment,
prosecutors said.
Several businessmen also testified that they
lavished Kwame Kilpatrick with vacations, custom-made suits and jewelry
because they wanted to keep him happy, and they needed help with city
deals.
All three men had denied the charges vigorously, saying
they never demanded anything of anyone and were committed to helping
minority businesses grow.
When the trial started last fall, it
included a fourth defendant, former city water director Victor Mercado.
But during the trial, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and awaits
sentencing.
Kwame Kilpatrick, who now lives near Dallas, declined
to testify. Defense lawyer James Thomas told jurors that Kwame
Kilpatrick often was showered with cash gifts from city workers and
political supporters during holidays and birthdays.
Kwame
Kilpatrick, 42, was elected mayor in 2001 at age 31. He resigned in 2008
and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in a different scandal
involving sexually explicit text messages and an extramarital affair
with his chief of staff.
He spent 14 months in prison for
violating probation in that case after a judge said he failed to report
assets that could be put toward his $1 million restitution to Detroit.
Voters
booted his mother, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., from Congress in
2010, partly because of a negative perception of her because of her
son's troubles.
Contributing: The Associated Press