Legal Commentary

Kilpatrick's Bail Revoked

By TChris

Anyone want to buy half a tunnel? Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went to Windsor to lobby for the sale of Detroit's half of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel to raise money for the cash-strapped city. That turned out to be a bad decision.

Kilpatrick is facing perjury, obstruction of justice, and other criminal charges. A bail condition prohibits his travel outside of Michigan without the court's permission, which Kilpatrick failed to obtain before venturing into Windsor. A judge revoked Kilpatrick's bail today, sending him to jail for at least one night.

The mayor’s lawyers sought an immediate appeal, but the circuit court judge who will take up the matter put off a hearing until Friday morning.

While Kilpatrick is incarcerated, his chief of staff will be acting mayor. A statement that "residents can be assured government will continue to operate as usual" is hardly reassuring, given that business as usual in Detroit's city government is awfully dysfunctional.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 07, 2008 (boomark / email).