Detroit mayor charged with perjury

From staff reports

DETROIT — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged Monday with perjury, obstruction of justice and other counts for allegedly lying under oath about an extramarital affair with a top aide.

Wayne County (Mich.) Prosecuting Attorney Kym Worthy announced that Kilpatrick was named in a 12-count document in connection with an investigation that began when sexually explicit text messages surfaced that appear to contradict his sworn denials of the affair.

Former chief of staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick shared a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

Worthy says some documents sought as part of her probe have been "lost or destroyed."

"Our investigation has led to other potential defendants, so we will continue our investigation into their activities," she says. "Let me be very, very clear: this was not an investigation focused on lying about sex."

Aides to Kilpatrick have said that the mayor plans to remain in office, regardless of Monday's decision.

The announcement follows an eight-week investigation that was prompted by a Jan. 23-24 Detroit Free Press story that revealed the existence of text messages showing that the mayor and Beatty lied at last year's police whistle-blower trial when they denied having an extramarital affair. The Free Press is owned by Gannett, the parent company of USA TODAY.

The messages also showed that they provided misleading testimony about firing former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown in 2003 after he and former mayoral bodyguard Harold Nelthrope began asking questions about a rumored wild party at the mayoral mansion and alleged misconduct involving the mayor's security team — questions that threatened to expose the sexual affair.

Despite the false testimony, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury last September awarded Brown and Nelthrope $6.5 million in damages. Kilpatrick vowed to appeal, but on Oct. 17, abruptly decided to settle the case and a second police whistle-blower suit involving former mayoral bodyguard Walt Harris for $8.4 million — $9 million with legal costs.

Kilpatrick settled after the plaintiffs' lawyer, Mike Stefani, informed the mayor's lawyer that he had the incriminating text messages and would reveal them in court papers he planned to file to justify his request for legal fees in the whistle-blower case.

Although Kilpatrick apologized for his conduct in a televised appearance with his wife, Carlita, in late January, he has blamed the media for his troubles and rejected calls from the City Council, Attorney General Mike Cox and city union locals to resign.

Settlement documents the Free Press obtained last month through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the city show that — contrary to Kilpatrick's claim that he decided to settle based on advice from friends, advisers and ordinary citizens — he made peace with the cops after discovering that Stefani had the text messages.

Although Kilpatrick's lawyers settled the suit with one agreement on Oct. 17, they decided to split it into public and private settlements after the Free Press requested a copy.

The public agreement showed how much the former cops would be paid. The secret agreement, signed by Kilpatrick and Beatty, swore Brown, Nelthrope and Stefani to secrecy about the text messages under threat of forfeiting their settlement proceeds and legal fees.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. released the secret agreement last month after the Kilpatrick administration repeatedly denied its existence. Colombo released the agreement and other secret settlement records after the administration appealed unsuccessfully to the Michigan Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court, which rejected Kilpatrick's claim that the documents weren't public documents.

The City Council, which was kept in the dark about Kilpatrick's reasons for settling the lawsuit and never saw the confidential side agreement, voted 7-1 last week to pass an advisory resolution calling for the mayor to resign. It also ordered an investigation of the episode and directed its auditor general to look into spending by the mayor's office and the city Law Department.

Kilpatrick went on television with his wife in late January and apologized for his conduct, he insists there was no cover-up and has blamed the news media for most of his problems. He accused the Free Press of illegally obtaining the text messages — which the newspaper denies — and accusing the media of conducting a public lynching. He said the text messages and the settlement agreement that concealed them should never have been made public.

He also said the text messages were private even though he signed a policy directive in June 2000 advising city employees that all electronic communications should be considered public.

So far, Kilpatrick has refused to step down, saying he is on a divinely inspired mission to help rebuild the city. But conviction of a felony would force him to resign.

Beatty resigned in late January.

The scandal is the latest to confront Kilpatrick, a gifted politician who became the youngest mayor in Detroit history when he was elected in 2001 after serving in the state Legislature.

But his six-year tenure as mayor has been rocky.

He has been beset by repeated controversies over extravagant spending with his city-issued credit card, lying publicly about ordering the police department to lease a Lincoln Navigator for his wife and battening down information hatches at City Hall, making it more difficult for reporters and the public to inquire about his activities.

Besides possible criminal charges, the text messaging scandal and how city-paid lawyers responded to it could result in professional misconduct charges from the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.

If Kilpatrick or Beatty is charged with crimes, defense lawyers are expected to attack the authenticity of the text messages, demanding that prosecutors prove Kilpatrick and Beatty sent them and that they had an affair.

Two previous Detroit mayors have been charged with felonies, both after leaving office.

Mayor Richard Reading, mayor in 1938-40, was sentenced to 4-1/2 to 5 years in prison after being charged with conspiring with 80 policemen to protect Detroit's numbers racket. Mayor Louis Miriani, mayor from 1957-62, was sentenced to one year in prison for income tax evasion after leaving office.

Contributing: Detroit Free Press; Mike Carney in McLean, Va.; Associated Press