Posted August 8, 2008 - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to be free today and will be electronically monitored once he posts a $50,000 cash bond after his overnight stay at the Wayne County Jail.
Judge Thomas E. Jackson set the terms of Kilpatrick's release following an appeal hearing in Detroit this morning. He'd been locked up after admitting he made an unauthorized trip to nearby Canada while under restrictions for pending perjury charges.
But minutes after Jackson's decision, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced that the mayor faces two new felony counts for his alleged July 24 attack on a sheriff's deputy. Detective Brian White and an investigator allegedly went to the home of the mayor's sister to serve a subpoena on her brother-in-law, Kilpatrick's good friend.
"A loud and irate voice saying you don't have to tell, 'expletive' anything" came from inside the house, Cox says. "They were able to identify it as the mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick. It did not stop there. Kilpatrick's interference soon moved beyond mere words He banged through the front door and moved toward Detective White...grabbed Detective White by the shoulders and moved him into Investigator Kinney."
Cox says both officers were knocked off balance and chose to leave the scene rather than arrest the mayor and risk a confrontation with his executive protection unit.
Kilpatrick is charged with two counts of assaulting or obstructing a police officer in the furtherance of their duties, punishable by up to two years in prison or a $2,000 fine.
"In my almost 20 years, first as a prosecutor, now as attorney general, I cannot recall one case where someone has assaulted a police officer when they were trying to serve a subpoena," Cox says.
Kilpatrick's arraignment on the latest charges will likely take place after his release on the new bond conditions. He'll be tethered and prevented from leaving Michigan under any circumstances, forcing him to cancel previously planned trips to the Democratic National Convention and to his family's summer home in Florida.
Developments in the last 24 hours have renewed calls for Kilpatrick to step down from office by citizens and his political peers in the city and region.
The mayor has experienced a domino effect of criminal charges and grief since the Detroit Free Press in February published text messages allegedly sent between Kilpatrick and his ex-chief of staff Christine Beatty, suggesting that they had an extra-marital affair and disciplined cops whose probe could've uncovered it.
Beatty and Kilpatrick face perjury charges for having denied information shown in the text messages. Cox says an assault trial for the mayor could wrap up as quickly as 90 days. A mayor convicted of a felony must be removed from office under Michigan law.