Kwame Kilpatrick’s attorney, Gerald Evelyn, center, is seen here in 2008 talking with with assistant Wayne County prosecutors, Robert Moran, right, and Lisa Lindsey, about plea agreements that included Kilpatrick’s resignation. (Robin Buckson / The Detroit News)
The federal government’s case is built on a foundation of Jell-O, features weak information and testimony from liars, contractor Bobby Ferguson’s lawyer said Friday.
“The federal government has unequal power and pressured a number of people and you’ll see the results played out over the next several months,” defense lawyer Gerald Evelyn told jurors. “It caused them to lie, exaggerate and distort the truth.
“There never was a Kilpatrick Enterprise.”
Those lies, Evelyn said, are part of a voluminous amount of evidence compiled by the government, including more than 600,000 text messages and more than 100 witnesses.
“They have a lot of quantity,” Evelyn said, his voice rising. “They don’t have very much quality.”
Evelyn, who has chafed at depictions of Ferguson and Kwame Kilpatrick as friends, acknowledged the relationship Friday.
“The government is trying to criminalize that friendship. That gave him access. There is nothing illegal about that,” Evelyn said, punctuating his point by pounding the lectern.
Evelyn called Ferguson — who was convicted of pistol-whipping a man in 2005 and who is scheduled to be retried on bid-rigging charges later this year — an honest man.
“He’s a decent man,” Evelyn said. “He’s terrified.”
Update at 2:34 p.m.: Opening statements are finished. The trial resumes Monday at 9 a.m.