Travel: The judge blows up Kwame Kilpatrick, and rejects his offer to end court supervision
The judge blows up Kwame Kilpatrick, and rejects his offer to end court supervision
#judge #blows #Kwame #Kilpatrick #rejects #offer #court #supervision Welcome to InNewCL, here is the new story we have for you today:
Click Me To View Restricted Videos
If former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick sought mercy from US District Judge Nancy Edmunds, he not only didn’t get it; he was punished.
In blistering court opinion, Edmunds on Thursday rejected Kilpatrick’s request to end his supervised release early so he could travel more freely as a chaplain. Edmunds concludes that Kilpatrick has not proven himself to be a changed man, still living a luxurious life while ignoring his debts and refusing to admit responsibility for the corruption crimes he committed a decade ago.
“(Kilpatrick) affirms that the early termination of his supervised release is warranted because he has matured and learned from his mistakes; has worked hard to be a responsible, law-abiding, and productive citizen; and accepts responsibility for his criminal actions,” Edmunds wrote in five page opinion.
The judge said Kilpatrick only paid $5,000 in damages
Edmund disagreed.
“(Kilpatrick) committed a very serious crime, and he still owes a large amount of restitution,” Edmunds wrote, noting that Kilpatrick owed the IRS more than $192,000. “Dan (Kilpatrick) has a history of spending his money on a lavish lifestyle rather than paying off his obligations. (He) only made a little over $5,000 in payment for his restitution obligations in this case. As recently as 2022, however, (Kilpatrick) and his wife trying to raise $800,000 to buy a place to live in a luxury gated community in Orlando, Florida.”
Edmunds continues:
“While the attempt was later reversed, it shows a desire to continue with his former lifestyle, rather than focusing on paying off his debts.”
Edmunds also criticized Kilpatrick for – as he puts it – “steadfastly” denying responsibility for his crimes.
More:Kwame Kilpatrick tells judge: My $1.5 million debt has been settled. Let me travel
More: Prosecutors are seeking funds from PayPal, Plumfund, to pay off Kwame Kilpatrick’s debts
“[Kilpatrick’s]own recent statements to the media disproved claims that he “unequivocally accepts responsibility for his criminal acts,” Edmunds wrote in his order, citing an earlier interview on the show “Today”, in which Kilpatrick admitted “committing perjury and lied about the affair, but steadfastly denied committing any of the 24 federal crimes he was found guilty of.”
“Such statements undermine the public’s trust in our criminal justice system and do not demonstrate acceptance of responsibility,” wrote Edmunds, who a decade ago sentenced Kilpatrick to 28 years in prison, although he left in early 2021 after then-President Donald Trump granted him a pardon. .
Although Kilpatrick is released from prison in 2021, Trump’s grant of pardon does not void the three years of supervised release Kilpatrick had ordered him to carry out in 2013. In December, Kilpatrick asked Edmunds to end that custody, arguing he had proven himself to have changed. . man.
Edmunds, however, disagreed.
It was Edmunds who handed down one of the nation’s toughest public corruption convictions in 2013 when he ordered Kilpatrick to spend 28 years in federal prison for multiple crimes. Against Kilpatrick’s wishes, Edmunds orders the former mayor to go to prison as soon as a jury convicts him of 24 of the 32 counts, for crimes including bribery, conspiracy, extortion, and fraud.
Kilpatrick appealed the conviction and sentence numerous times, but lost all appeals.
Kilpatrick, meanwhile, still owes the city of Detroit more than $854,000 in restitution stemming from a text message scandal exposed by the Free Press, sparking criminal prosecution and leading to Kilpatrick’s resignation. According to Wayne County Court records, he has not paid a dime in restitution in 10 years.
Kilpatrick’s attorney, Grosse Pointe attorney Brandon Byrd, could not be reached for comment. Previously, he stated that Kilpatrick had done “everything in his power to rehabilitate himself,” and had settled a $1.5 million debt of restitution from the federal case through the liquidation of the assets of accused Bobby Ferguson.
Ferguson’s request was also rejected
Edmunds also rejected Ferguson’s request to halt his supervised release, concluding that he “committed a very serious crime and still owes a great deal of damages.”
Ferguson owes the city of Detroit $2.6 million in damages stemming from crimes he committed while his friend was mayor. According to Edmunds, he was paying $100 a month on the debt.
Ferguson and Kilpatrick were accused of running a criminal enterprise through the mayor’s office by tampering with contracts, directing jobs to Ferguson and cultivating a climate of fear in the contracting world. A major theme debated at trial was that if you wanted to work in the city of Detroit, you had to include Ferguson, or risk losing the deal.
Ferguson was sentenced to 21 years in prison for his crimes but was granted a compassionate release in 2021 after Kilpatrick was granted a pardon.
Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
