Kwame Kilpatrick Guilty: Former Detroit Mayor Found Guilty In Federal Trial

Story by HuffPost Detroit

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of multiple counts of racketeering and extortion, a jury decided Monday. Kilpatrick was convicted of a multitude of charges, including racketeering, extortion, attempted extortion, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Both Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson were found guilty on most counts. Kilpatrick's 71-year-old father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was only found guilty of one tax count.

Jurors deliberated for 15 days before announcing that they were ready to vote on a verdict. The 12 members of this jury have spent 79 hours total deliberating all the details from the five-month trial.

Judge Nancy Edmunds thanked the 12 members of the jury before reading the verdict, saying, "These jurors did an extraordinary job."

According to WXYZ, some jurors have expressed an interest in talking to the media and will address reporters soon.

This is a developing story..

The five month corruption trial alleged that Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson ran a criminal enterprise out of Detroit’s City Hall. Prosecutors said the former Detroit mayor, who has already served over a year in prison for perjury, spent $840,000 more during his tenure than he earned. They’ve charged the former 42-year-old mayor with 33 criminal offenses that include charges of tax fraud, bribery, extortion and RICO charges. Ferguson and Bernard Kilpatrick have also been accused of racketeering charges.

Kilpatrick defense attorneys deny the charges. They admit that the former mayor accepted cash gifts from his friends, but say he’s broken no laws.

Among other accusations from the case, federal prosecutors have said that Kilpatrick operated a fund for the needy called the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, with the aim of helping Detroiters in need. Instead, they said, the former mayor used the money for yoga classes, golf clubs and vacations.

They’ve also targeted $84 million in contracts given to Kilpatrick’s friend Bobby Ferguson. Detroit businessman Tony Soave and other businesspeople with city work say they were forced to hire Ferguson as a subcontractor if they wanted to win city deals. In court, Soave told jurors that Kilpatrick racked up $389,000 in travel on his private plane.

During the trial, many witnesses claimed that Kilpatrick’s father, Bernard, demanded bribes in exchange for city contracts.

Kilpatrick left Detroit’s City Hall in 2008 after pleading guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice related to a text message sex scandal with a former employee. He served about a year in jail for those crimes and agreed to pay the city of Detroit $1 million in restitution.

In January the ex-mayor spent a weekend in jail for violating his parole by not reporting cash gifts he received in 2012.