DETROIT — A prosecutor made a surprising offer Friday to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: resign by Sept. 3 in exchange for the dismissal of one of two assault charges. But Kilpatrick rejected the deal.
Doug Baker of the Michigan attorney general’s office disclosed the plea offer during a routine arraignment for Kilpatrick on the charges in one of two criminal cases against him.
A not guilty plea on the assault charges was entered on the mayor’s behalf. Kilpatrick didn’t speak in court.
Later, defense attorney James Thomas told reporters the mayor rejected the deal. Thomas called the proposal “gratuitous” and said it has “nothing to do with the case itself.” He added: “Our position is we are going to go forward. We are preparing for trial.”
Rusty Hills, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said Baker’s offer would be “a good deal for all the parties involved.”
The mayor is accused of shoving a sheriff’s detective into another investigator while they tried to serve a subpoena on one of his friends July 24.
Kilpatrick is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver. Thomas said last week the mayor is interested in attending but conditions of his bond in the assault case prevent him from traveling outside the metro Detroit area.
A hearing was scheduled for Monday on Kilpatrick’s bond conditions.
Separately, Kilpatrick and his former top aide, Christine Beatty, were charged in March with conspiracy, perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office, mostly tied to their testimony in a civil trial.
Sexually explicit text messages between the pair, published by the Detroit Free Press in January, contradict their sworn denials of an affair, a key point in the trial last year involving a former deputy police chief.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is scheduled on Sept. 3 to consider a request from the Detroit City Council to have Kilpatrick removed from office. Under Michigan law, a governor can remove an elected official for misconduct. That hearing could last several days.
Granholm declined Friday to discuss anything involving Kilpatrick.
Associated Press Ed White contributed to this report.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
