Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the youngest mayor of a big US city, was charged along with an aide of his with eight felonies in an obstruction-of-justice case.

The 37-year-old "Hip-Hop Mayor" mayor – he wore a diamond earring when he won election in 2001 - was charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct in office all linked to an affair he had with former chief of staff Christine Beatty.

Besides lying to the jury, Kilpatrick also settled a lawsuit with several former police officers with $8.4 million in tax dollars in order to hide the fact that he had lied under oath about his romantic relationship with Beatty, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

If convicted, Boston’s mayor, also known as the "playah mayah", will surely lose his job and face imprisonment for a long time. Each count of perjury carries with it a maximum 15-year sentence. Kilpatrick faces four. He also faces five years each for the two charges of misconduct in office and two charges of obstruction of justice.

He had until 7 a.m. Tuesday to turn himself in, but he did it on Monday along with Beatty.

In the brief news conference held when he turned himself to the authorities, Kilpatrick described the case as "a very flawed process from the beginning."

This isn’t the first time when Kilpatrick’s desire for high life gets him into trouble. Before the romantic affair with his chief of staff has come to the public eye, Kilpatrick faced allegations of organizing a party at the mayor’s mansion attended by strippers.

The Democrat Mayor of New York said he is confident that, once all the facts are brought to court, he will be “completely exonerated.” The city’s Council voted 7 to 1 to ask for Kilpatrick's resignation.

Former federal prosecutor Daniel Webb, the mayor’s lawyer, advised Kilpatrick not to resign because he faces just a "a weak prosecution case".

It all started as several members of Kilpatrick’s police security detail filed suit against the city after they were punished for investigating allegations of misconduct by the mayor and his bodyguards. The mayor and his chief of staff then testified last fall that they didn’t have an affair.

Then an $8.4-million settlement with the police officials was approved, but soon after that the Detroit Free Press released spicy parts from more than 14,000 text messages sent to and from Beatty's pager in 2002 and 2003.

A message such as "I'm madly in love with you" sent by Kilpatrick to Beatty, is surely in contradiction with the mayor’s testimony.

"Even children understand that lying is wrong," Worthy said Monday.

The County Prosecutor added that "lying cannot be tolerated even if a judge and jury sees through it."