Thank sweet Jebus above … Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has finally decided to plead guilty to two of the criminal charges against him and is in court right now confessing his guilt in open court in Detroit, MI as I type this post. Under the terms of his plea bargain, Kilpatrick will resign his office as Mayor of the City of Detroit, pay restitution fines and will submit to jailtime:

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s tenure as mayor of Detroit is over. He just entered into a plea agreement, according to prosecutor Lisa Lindsey. The deal calls for Kilpatrick to plead guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice by committing perjury, agreeing to serve four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years’ probation. He also agreed not to run for office during that five-year span. The mayor will turn over his state pension to the City of Detroit, which paid $8.4 million to settle two whistle-blower lawsuits three former cops filed against the city. The mayor was charged with eight felony counts ranging from conspiracy to perjury to misconduct in office to obstruction of justice after the Free Press revealed that the mayor lied on the witness stand during a police whistle-blower trial and gave misleading testimony about whether he intended to fire a deputy police chief investigating allegations of wrongdoing by members of his inner circle. Just before huddling with his attorney, a smiling Kilpatrick jousted with reporters sitting in the first row of the courtroom. He, apparently good-naturedly, told them their reports were wrong and they needed to check their sources. He did not elaborate. He also shook hands with Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff and ex-lover. Beatty has left the courtroom with her attorneys, Mayer and Jeff Morganroth, and a man believed to be her pastor. First lady Carlita Kilpatrick is in the courtroom. This is the first time she’s been in a courtroom with Beatty since the scandal started in January … In January, the newspaper published text messages Kilpatrick and his then-chief of staff Christine Beatty exchanged on city issued pagers. Worthy cited the investigation in March, when he charged Kilpatrick with eight felonies and Beatty with seven.

Earlier this week, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy had offered the mayor six months in jail. That apparently was lowered to four months by Wednesday night. At one point Wednesday afternoon, Kilpatrick met with his department directors and staff at a regular meeting. The subject of his criminal cases was raised, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a private meeting. The subject of the mayor’s leaving office came up, but Kilpatrick did not commit one way or the other and urged his top staff to remain focused, this source said. The mayor’s plea likely means Gov. Jennifer Granholm will cancel a second day of removal hearings for the mayor. The historic proceedings began Wednesday at Cadillac Place, the state office building located in the New Center, about 10 minutes from the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice where Kilpatrick entered his equally historic guilty plea … Kilpatrick is also facing two felony charges for allegedly assaulting deputies trying to serve a subpoena last month at the home of his sister, Ayanna. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox’s office is handling that case.

I cannot express my extreme happiness at this news. Honestly, with as stubborn as powerhungry as I believe Kwame Kilpatrick to be, I never thought he’d actually plea bargain his way out of this … I have always contended that as long as he is removed from office AND serves some measure of jailtime, then I would be satisfied. Under the terms of his plea bargain, he will lose his pension, will pay the City of Detroit $1 million dollars and will serve 4 months in jail — I am satisfied. Enjoy jail Kwame, may you spend your time thinking about how much you hurt the City of Detroit with your criminal actions. It is now time for my beloved Detroit City to heal from this deadly cancer that was eating away at it for so many years. I choose to see this as a happy day for Detroit, not a sad one as some believe … the future begins now.

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