MANGO!
01-24-2008, 01:04 PM
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick shamed by text messages
They raise questions about trial testimony
David Josar, Paul Egan and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/METRO/801240417)
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9035/mayorch9.jpghttp://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6194/mayorshowa1.jpg
Kwame and his ho
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said Wednesday night that text messages indicating he had a sexual affair with his chief of staff in 2002 and 2003 were "profoundly embarrassing" and "reflect a very difficult period in my personal life."
The mayor's prepared statement was released by his office after a report surfaced that text messages show he had an intimate relationship with Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who has been Kilpatrick's friend since they were classmates at Cass Tech.
In some of those more than 14,000 messages, Kilpatrick, 37, and Beatty -- both were married at the time -- exchanged sexual banter, declared their love and arranged trysts in motels in Metro Detroit and on out-of-town business trips.
But under oath last summer in a whistleblowers suit filed against the city by two former cops, they both denied a romantic or intimate relationship. They also testified that they didn't plot to fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, but the text messages include exchanges about dismissing him.
Brown and ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope sued the city, claiming they were unfairly punished because Nelthrope alleged misbehavior by the mayor and his police bodyguards, and Brown investigated those claims. A jury awarded the pair some $8 million, including interest. In a separate but related case, a third ex-cop, Walt Harris, was paid $400,000.
Judge Michael Callahan, who presided over the whistleblowers case, said Wednesday night he does not plan to pursue contempt proceedings against Kilpatrick or Beatty, but hopes the possibility of criminal perjury charges will be investigated. "That's where the investigation belongs, certainly, is whether a felony was committed," Callahan said.
Kilpatrick, who has characterized himself as a strong family man dedicated to his wife and three young sons, had repeatedly and vehemently denied an affair with Beatty. Kilpatrick consistently called the officers in the whistleblowers case liars. On the witness stand, he answered with a curt "no" when asked if he had had an intimate relationship with Beatty. Those allegations of infidelity had dogged the mayor since they began to surface in late 2002 and led to the drawn-out court case that was filed in 2003.
Hours after the jury sided with Nelthrope and Brown, the mayor stood defiantly by the Spirit of Detroit statue outside City Hall and announced he had done nothing wrong and would be vindicated on appeal. No appeal was filed, however.
Beatty, too, denied an affair -- 10 times on the witness stand in August. But the text messages sent to a city-issued SkyTel pager, and obtained by the Detroit Free Press, show a different picture.
"I'm madly in love with you," Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002, according to the messages obtained by the Free Press, which published some of the information after a protracted legal battle with the city. The newspaper did not reveal who supplied the information. "I hope you feel that way for a long time," Beatty replied to the mayor. "In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!"
On Oct. 16, 2002, Kilpatrick wrote Beatty: "I've been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love." Beatty and her husband, Lou Beatty, divorced in 2006.
In last summer's trial, Harris, who had worked on Kilpatrick's security team, testified that after driving the mayor to Beatty's house late at night, he and his partner wondered if they would have to shoot Lou Beatty, if he showed up.
Contacted by The News Wednesday night, Lou Beatty said he had "no comment" about the newly surfaced text messages between the mayor and his ex-wife.
Legal experts said Kilpatrick and Beatty could face perjury charges. Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles, Calif., said the mayor could be charged and possibly convicted of perjury if he lied under oath at the Nelthrope civil trial.
The basic elements of a perjury charge are that a person knowingly lied under oath, Levenson said. An additional element is that the lie was about something that was "material" to the case in which the person was testifying, she said.
So far, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is not taking any action. "There's nothing that has been presented to us," said Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Worthy. "For that reason, we have no comment."
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick shamed by text messages
They raise questions about trial testimony
David Josar, Paul Egan and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/METRO/801240417)
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9035/mayorch9.jpghttp://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6194/mayorshowa1.jpg
Kwame and his ho
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said Wednesday night that text messages indicating he had a sexual affair with his chief of staff in 2002 and 2003 were "profoundly embarrassing" and "reflect a very difficult period in my personal life."
The mayor's prepared statement was released by his office after a report surfaced that text messages show he had an intimate relationship with Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who has been Kilpatrick's friend since they were classmates at Cass Tech.
In some of those more than 14,000 messages, Kilpatrick, 37, and Beatty -- both were married at the time -- exchanged sexual banter, declared their love and arranged trysts in motels in Metro Detroit and on out-of-town business trips.
But under oath last summer in a whistleblowers suit filed against the city by two former cops, they both denied a romantic or intimate relationship. They also testified that they didn't plot to fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, but the text messages include exchanges about dismissing him.
Brown and ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope sued the city, claiming they were unfairly punished because Nelthrope alleged misbehavior by the mayor and his police bodyguards, and Brown investigated those claims. A jury awarded the pair some $8 million, including interest. In a separate but related case, a third ex-cop, Walt Harris, was paid $400,000.
Judge Michael Callahan, who presided over the whistleblowers case, said Wednesday night he does not plan to pursue contempt proceedings against Kilpatrick or Beatty, but hopes the possibility of criminal perjury charges will be investigated. "That's where the investigation belongs, certainly, is whether a felony was committed," Callahan said.
Kilpatrick, who has characterized himself as a strong family man dedicated to his wife and three young sons, had repeatedly and vehemently denied an affair with Beatty. Kilpatrick consistently called the officers in the whistleblowers case liars. On the witness stand, he answered with a curt "no" when asked if he had had an intimate relationship with Beatty. Those allegations of infidelity had dogged the mayor since they began to surface in late 2002 and led to the drawn-out court case that was filed in 2003.
Hours after the jury sided with Nelthrope and Brown, the mayor stood defiantly by the Spirit of Detroit statue outside City Hall and announced he had done nothing wrong and would be vindicated on appeal. No appeal was filed, however.
Beatty, too, denied an affair -- 10 times on the witness stand in August. But the text messages sent to a city-issued SkyTel pager, and obtained by the Detroit Free Press, show a different picture.
"I'm madly in love with you," Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002, according to the messages obtained by the Free Press, which published some of the information after a protracted legal battle with the city. The newspaper did not reveal who supplied the information. "I hope you feel that way for a long time," Beatty replied to the mayor. "In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!"
On Oct. 16, 2002, Kilpatrick wrote Beatty: "I've been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love." Beatty and her husband, Lou Beatty, divorced in 2006.
In last summer's trial, Harris, who had worked on Kilpatrick's security team, testified that after driving the mayor to Beatty's house late at night, he and his partner wondered if they would have to shoot Lou Beatty, if he showed up.
Contacted by The News Wednesday night, Lou Beatty said he had "no comment" about the newly surfaced text messages between the mayor and his ex-wife.
Legal experts said Kilpatrick and Beatty could face perjury charges. Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles, Calif., said the mayor could be charged and possibly convicted of perjury if he lied under oath at the Nelthrope civil trial.
The basic elements of a perjury charge are that a person knowingly lied under oath, Levenson said. An additional element is that the lie was about something that was "material" to the case in which the person was testifying, she said.
So far, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is not taking any action. "There's nothing that has been presented to us," said Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Worthy. "For that reason, we have no comment."