Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit’s youngest elected leader,
is to be prosecuted for perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office
and conspiracy after lying under oath about an extramarital affair with a top
aide.
Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied
under oath her romantic relationship with Kilpatrick in 2002 and 2003, was also
charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who charged the two,
insisted that the issues were not private and did not only concern the ones who
were directly involved, as some have suggested.
Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or
private," Worthy said, according to the Associated Press.
"The justice system has been severely mocked and the public trust
trampled on. ... This case is about as far from being a private matter as one
can get," she concluded.
Worthy said she and her staff analyzed more than 40,000 pages of documents
since January, when the Detroit Free Press published sexually explicit text
messages sent by Kilpatrick to Beatty both in 2002 and 2003.
The messages are proving that the statements that Kilpatrick and Beatty gave
under oath are completely false. Some of the documents that were needed to
complete the investigation were destroyed or lost by Kilpatrick’s accomplices.
Worthy thinks more people could be charged.
"Our investigation has led to other potential defendants, so we will
continue our investigation into their activities," she says, according to
USA Today. "Let me be very, very clear: this was not an investigation
focused on lying about sex."
The couple also gave misleading testimony about the firing of police officer
Gary Brown, whose actions threatened to uncover their secret relationship.
"Gary Brown’s, Harold Nelthrope's and Walter Harris’ lives and careers
were forever changed," Worthy said. "They were ruined financially and
their reputations were completely destroyed because they chose to be dutiful
police officers.”
Aides of Kilpatrick have said that the mayor had no intention of leaving the
office.
