Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who gave one of his last major speeches in Asheville back on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. During that weekend, Kwame allegedly shared a room and a rub-down at the Grove Park Inn with a woman identified as “Carmen Slowski.” Only nobody knows who Carmen Slowski was.
All the details here, brought to you by Ashvegas.
Here’s the story from Associated Press:
DETROIT (AP) — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to felony charges Thursday in a sex scandal and will step down after months of defiantly holding onto his job leading the nation’s 11th-largest city. He was ordered jailed for four months and fined $1 million.
The plea deal brings to an end a seven-months-long ordeal that led to felony charges against Kilpatrick and plunged the city, region and state into political chaos.
“I lied under oath,” Kilpatrick said in court.
As part of the deal, the 38-year-old Democrat is to serve four months in jail and five years of probation. He also would pay the $1 million in restitution over the five-year probationary period.
During a separate hearing moments after Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner accepted the mayor’s plea, Kilpatrick offered a no contest plea in an assault case.
The judge also accepted that plea, which called for Kilpatrick to serve a four-month jail sentence that would run at the same time.
Kilpatrick had faced 10 felony counts in the two separate criminal cases.
Groner asked Kilpatrick if he understood he was giving up the right to be innocent until proven guilty.
“I gave that up a long time ago,” Kilpatrick replied.
Kilpatrick also read a statement in court and admitted his guilt, saying “I lied under oath … I did so with an intent to mislead the court and jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice.”
The married mayor and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They’re accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.
Beatty did not plead guilty and next will appear in court on Sept. 11. Groner said a plea deal in Beatty’s case appeared likely.
The mayor will be sentenced on Oct. 28. He will report to jail that day, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
Goodbye Kwame.