Kilpatrick jury finishes third day without reaching verdict

Jurors in the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption trial left federal court just before 3 p.m. without reaching a verdict.

The jury did not send any requests or questions to U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, according to a court spokesman.

Jurors will return at 9 a.m. Friday.

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Just found this while replacing the bird cage liner — a little light reading to help pass the time as jurors deliberate the fates of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father Bernard and contractor Bobby Ferguson.

Kwame Kilpatrick, Christine Beatty and his special guests went bar hopping from the Town Pump Tavern to Half Past Three to Floods Bar and Grill to The River Rock to Club Network and finally to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History which had been transformed into a very hip night club for the evening. The event was called the Inaugural Club Crawl and it was part of Kilpatrick’s inaugural week events.

Source: The Detroit News

Date: Friday, January 4, 2002

Byline: Darci McConnell and Cameron McWhirter

Kilpatrick: ‘We have nowhere to go but up’

DETROIT — At his inauguration this morning, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to deliver a sobering message — that Detroit’s needs may be graver than many already believe.

The city’s 60th mayor said in an interview that he expects to continue the freeze on hiring and pay raises, reflecting a ballooning budget deficit. He is also delivering a harsher message to the city’s employees than he did on the campaign trail — that they may have to compete for their jobs with private contractors if services don’t improve. He also will issue a call for residents to do their part in helping the city rebound.

At the same time, Kilpatrick said he would tell witnesses to his 11 a.m. swearing-in ceremony at the Fox Theatre, as well as live TV and radio audiences, that he intends to pursue the aggressive agenda of change laid out in his election campaign. As a start, Kilpatrick said he has set two priorities for his first 180 days:

– An overhaul of the troubled Police Department, resulting in more cops on the street and better discipline.

– Recreation and after-school programs for the Detroit Public Schools’ 180,000 students, something he calls “Mayor’s Time.”

The 31-year-old Kilpatrick will also have on his plate the city’s budget crisis, contract talks covering 16,862 unionized employees, permanent sites for the city’s three casinos and the need to streamline and make city services more efficient.

“What we talked about on the trail was the enormity of the problems, and it’s like I thought it was,” Kilpatrick said. “I thought of the worst possible condition. What I’m saying is, we have nowhere to go but up. It’s an exciting challenge.”

Kilpatrick’s determination to force fundamental changes in the face of those challenges underscores his sense of urgency about the city’s problems.

Detroit’s youngest elected mayor takes the reins of government at a time when residential and business flight continues because of deteriorating conditions. City government has struggled to deliver basic services to residents, halt the spread of blight or respond to residents’ complaints…

…Kilpatrick was lauded as a rising star by the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams; Republican Lt. Gov. Richard Posthumus; and a string of other state, local and federal office-holders. Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus also were on hand. Kilpatrick’s mother is U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit.

In a meeting with appointees to his administration Wednesday, Kilpatrick doled out assignments to holdover department heads from the Archer administration. The holdovers have 45 days to get results if they want to stay on.

He also sought to show who is boss. No talking to the press, he admonished. No talking to members of the City Council, either. And all personnel matters must go first through his office…

…Kilpatrick’s police reforms will include dismantling the 400-person drug unit, putting more officers in the community and weeding out corruption…

…There have been other indications of the challenges Kilpatrick faces with the police. In December, the board of the Detroit Police Officers Association voted to buy a ticket to a $3,000-a-person fundraiser for Kilpatrick’s inauguration. But the rank-and-file voted it down a week later.

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