Former Detroit water boss Victor Mercado. (Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News)
Jurors were not told about former Detroit Water boss Victor Mercado’s guilty plea when the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption trial resumed Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds read a prepared instruction to jurors eight days after Mercado struck a plea deal that could put him in prison for 18 months.
“Mr. Mercado is no longer a part of this trial,” Edmunds told jurors. “I instruct you not to speculate as to the reason for his absence.”