Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is a free man, but his legal wranglings are far from over.
At about 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Kilpatrick emerged from jail after spending 99 days behind bars for his role in a text-message scandal that cost him his job, law license and a $1 million fine. Kilpatrick, whose 120-day sentence was shortened due to good behavior, lied under oath about an affair with a former aide during a police whistleblower lawsuit that cost the city $8.4 million.
The scandal, meanwhile, has more legal twists and turns.
Kilpatrick has hired yet another high-profile attorney to investigate the release of his text messages, which got him into trouble in the first place. Standing next to Kilpatrick as he walked out of jail early Tuesday morning was Willie Gary, a prominent, Florida trial attorney whose firm Web site boasts of winning billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements.
"We just want to make sure -- from A to Z -- that the steps were followed ... and the process was not violated," said Gary of Stuart, Fla.'s Gary, Williams, Finney, Lewis, Watson & Sperando. He said that he is not here, at this point, to file a lawsuit.
As for his client, Gary said that Kilpatrick "is not bitter," and that he's "learned a lot."
"He said that this has been an experience he'll never forget, and he thinks because of it, he'll be a better person," Gary said as he left the Wayne County jail with Kilpatrick, who is headed to Texas for a job interview with an unknown employer.
Meanwhile, back in Detroit, Kilpatrick's text messages are keeping lawyers and judges busy in two separate courtrooms.
In one court, a judge on Monday said he would give Kilpatrick's lawyers more time to challenge the release of yet more text messages that are held by prosecutors. The Detroit Free Press is fighting for their release. A decision is expected on March 6.
In another court, a separate newspaper suit is seeking the release of all text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff and ex-lover, Christine Beatty, who is serving a 120-day jail sentence for her role in the scandal. The pair were charged last March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice.
Kilpatrick's criminal defense lawyer, Jim Thomas, of counsel to Detroit's Plunkett Cooney, was unavailable for comment. In the past, he has repeatedly argued that Kilpatrick's text messages should remain sealed due to a number of reasons: privacy privileges, spousal communication privileges and attorney-client privilege. Another claim is that sensitive information about city matters could get leaked out if the texts are released.
Herschel Fink of Detroit's Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, who represents the Detroit Free Press, believes no such privileges exist. He argued that any potential evidence of public corruption "should not be held from the public."
"Of more concern to me is that it's being raised as a mask to cover up wrongdoing," Fink said of the privilege argument.
Kilpatrick resigned as mayor on Sept. 18 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and no contest to assault for allegedly shoving a detective on his sister's porch as the detective was trying to serve a subpoena in the text-message case.
For the next five years, Kilpatrick will be on probation, and he has to pay off $1 million in restitution to the city of Detroit.
Editor's note: Tresa Baldas' husband, M.L. Elrick, reported on the text messages for the Detroit Free Press.
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Detroit's Former Mayor Is Out of Jail, but Not Out of Legal Problems
The National Law Journal
February 4, 2009
