INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY...BUSH PARDON?

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
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GOOD MORNING FLINT! BY Terry Bankert 3/26/08
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Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
SUMMARY ON Flint Talk

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Mayor's Perjury Case Not Open and Shut [g]

Legal experts said Tuesday that the heart of the perjury case against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick - steamy text messages that seem to contradict his sworn denials of an affair with an aide - might be less open-and-shut than many believe. [g]

Kilpatrick's lawyer, meanwhile, has suggested the prosecutors' case hinges on "vague, indefinite and ambiguous" questions that hardly resulted in enough evidence to warrant the charges. [t]
The two were charged on Monday, when prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that she had authorised a 12-count criminal indictment. [b]

Kilpatrick: 8 charges Conspiracy to obstruct justice: 1 charge; 5-year felony Obstruction of justice: 1 charge, related to the firing former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, interfering with Brown's investigation of him and perjury about his alleged affair with Beatty; 5-year felony Misconduct in office: 2 charges, related to Brown's firing, perjury and authorizing an $8.4 million settlement of whistle-blower lawsuits by Brown and two other cops to hide incriminating text messages; each charge a 5-year felony Perjury: 4 charges, related to trial and deposition testimony relating to his alleged affair with Beatty and Brown's firing, each charge a 15-year felony Beatty: 7 charges Conspiracy to obstruct justice: 1 charge; 5-year felony Obstruction of justice : 1 charge, 5-year felony related to the firing of Brown, interfering with his investigation of the mayor and perjury about her affair with Kilpatrick Misconduct in office: 1 charge, 5-year felony related to Brown's firing and perjury about her alleged affair with mayor Perjury: 4 charges, related to trial and deposition testimony relating to Brown's firing and her affair with Kilpatrick; each charge a 15-year felony[d]


HIGH TEXT AND AMBIGUITY, Plenty of room to extract innocence.[trb]

Kilpatrick's attorneys want to keep the intimate and sexually explicit text messages out of a trial, and at least one outside defense lawyer says the admissibility of such high-tech communications is an unsettled legal question. Even if they are admitted, experts say the defense will exploit any ambiguity in the messages, in the questions the mayor and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty were asked under oath, and in their answers. [g]

IS REASONABLE DOUBT, REASONABLE?

``If the questions were not clear, and that's going to be used to prove the case, then that's another avenue in trying to establish a reasonable doubt,'' former federal prosecutor Matthew Orwig said Tuesday. [g]

SPEECHLESS IN DETROIT

On Tuesday, the usually gregarious Kilpatrick was subdued as he stood mute to eight felony charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office during his arraignment in Detroit. Beatty also stood mute to seven of those charges. [g]

In a Monday morning press conference, Wayne County's top prosecutor, Kym L. Worthy, charged Kilpatrick with eight felonies, including perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct for the text messages he allegedly traded with his paramour, Christine Beatty. (Beatty was also charged with seven felonies, including perjury.) Worthy also said several other individuals may be charged in connection with the case. [t]

WILL NOT RESIGN

The charismatic Kilpatrick, 37, who was happy to be known as the nation's first "hip-hop mayor," today dismissed Worthy's investigation as "flawed" and indicated he has no plans to resign, even after Detroit's city council passed a resolution urging him to do so last week. Kilpatrick and Beatty surrendered to Wayne County authorities Monday afternoon for booking. If found guilty of the perjury charges, he could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.[t]


PERSONAL BOND GETS PERSONAL BONDS

Not guilty pleas were entered for both. They were released on personal bonds and are expected to appear at a June 9 preliminary examination that will determine if they will face trial in Wayne County Circuit Court.[g]

A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS

The charges stem from a lawsuit filed by two former police officers who won a jury verdict last year. They said they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.[g]

Kilpatrick has also tried to dismiss the charges as racially motivated. But prosecutor Worthy is also African American[T] Mabey the charges are motivated because he is FAT. A fatally based discrimination.[trb]

I THOUGHT ONLY KIDS DID THAT STUFF- PAGERS AND TEXTING!

Kilpatrick had said he would challenge the verdict, but prosecutors allege that a multimillion-dollar settlement was reached after the officers' attorney showed the mayor's lawyers references to the text messages, which had been left on Beatty's city-issued pager. [g]
The Detroit Free Press published excerpts of the messages in January, prompting an investigation that led to charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty on Monday.[g]
Kilpatrick's lawyer Dan Webb is a former U.S. attorney known for his three-hour cross-examination of former President Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra scandal. Webb won a conviction, later reversed, against Admiral John Poindexter on charges linked to the scandal. [g]
Webb also was the chief defense attorney in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who is now in prison. [g]

BRING IN THE FEDERALLIES

Webb says the release of the text messages violates federal law. [g]
``Under the Stored Communications Act they absolutely should not have been produced in civil litigation,'' Webb said Monday. ``Because of that, everyone who sees them is clearly tainted because the initial production was illegal.'' [g]

BROTHERS UNITED

Miami criminal defense lawyer Milton Hirsch said Webb's effort to bring the 1986 act into play is a good move. [g]
``He's a very fine lawyer,'' said Hirsch, who specializes in defending public corruption cases. ``There is very little law on this, but I think it's a motion worth filing. It could make good law and could establish an important point.'' [g]

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF INTIMATE?

Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having an intimate relationship when they testified in the police officers' lawsuit. [g]

IS CASUAL SEX ROMATIC?

``Mayor Kilpatrick, during 2002 and 2003, were you romantically involved with Christine Beatty?'' asked Mike Stefani, who represented the police officers. [g]
Kilpatrick's response: ``No.'' [g]
Beatty said ``no'' and rolled her eyes when asked if she and the mayor were ``either romantically or intimately involved'' during the period covered by the case. [g]
Text messages published by the Free Press told a different story. [g]

A METAPHYSICAL TYPE OF ATTRACTION

``I'm madly in love with you,'' Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002. [g]
``I hope you feel that way for a long time,'' Beatty replied. ``In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!'' [g]

I HAVE SINNED IN MY MIND? WAS THAT SWAGGART OR CARTER?

On Oct. 16, 2002, Kilpatrick wrote Beatty: ``I've been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.'' [g]

YOU CANNOT TRUST A TRYST

The messages also included dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their trysts. Hirsch, however, said the messages may not be enough to prove perjury. [g]

THEY DID NOT SAY WHAT?

``The world is full of people who are in the habit of exchanging salacious phone calls, e-mails and text messages,'' he said. ``It doesn't mean they are having an actual relationship. Did they say (under oath) they didn't have physical sex, or have no personal relationship or interaction, at all? [g]
``If the witnesses testified 'we have nothing but a business relationship, we scarcely even talk about anything besides business matters,' that's a different matter,'' Hirsch said. [g]

BYE BYE BABY GOODBYE

Sex is not the only issue surrounding the text messages. The prosecutor's office filed an investigative report Tuesday that included an excerpt of a text message from Kilpatrick asking members of his staff for help in explaining the departure of former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, one of the former officers who sued. [g]
On June 24, 2003, he wrote: ``We must answer the question? Why was Gary Brown fired. It will be asked, I need short, powerful answer ... I just need a good answer. Whatever it might be.'' [g]

UN COLA

During the whistle-blower suit, Kilpatrick said Brown was ``un-appointed.'' [g]
``He was not fired,'' he testified. [g]

IS A HORMONE DRIVEN STATEMENT WILLFUL?

Perjury, under Michigan law, is defined as ``willfully'' swearing falsely while under oath and is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. [g]

CONTEMPT CHARGES PENDING

Worthy would not elaborate but said some of her concerns may be revealed at a court hearing Friday at which a judge has been asked to consider finding two city officials in contempt of court. She would not specify which records she has been unable to obtain from the city. Frustration in obtaining certain records has caused county prosecutors in recent weeks to take action in the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court and to launch contempt proceedings against Detroit Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson and Deputy Human Resources Director Patricia Peoples. [d]

BUSH DID NOT PARDON DETROITS MAYOR?

DETROITS MAYOR SHOULD ASK FOR A PARDON BUSH IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
On the new friend list for George W. Bush were:
• William L. Baker of Spokane, Wash., who was sentenced in 1980 to two years prison for falsifying records.
• George Francis Bauckham of Oak Ridge, N.J., who received five years probation in 1958 for the unlawfully detention or delay of the mail by a postal employee.
• Kenneth Charles Britt of White City, Kan., who was sentenced to three years probation in 1998 for conspiracy to violate fish and wildlife laws.
• William Bruce Butt of London, Ky., who received three years probation in 1990 for bank embezzlement.
• Mariano Garza Caballero of Brownsville, Texas, who was sentenced in 1984 to 34 days in prison and four years probation for dealing in firearms without a license.
• Anthony C. Foglio of Santee, Calif., who was sentenced to three years probation in 1996 for distributing marijuana. He is also known as Tony Foley.
• Marvin Robert Foster of Boca Raton, Fla., who was sentenced to a year of probation in 1968 for making a false statement in connection with a Federal Housing Administration loan.
• Carl Harry Hachmeister of Denton, Texas, who was sentenced to three years probation in 1985 for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
• William Marcus McDonald of Wetumpka, Ala., who was sentenced two four years confinement with hard labor by an Air Force court-martial in 1984 for cocaine and marijuana charges. His pay was docked, his rank was reduced and he was given a discharge for bad conduct.
• Robert Michael Milroy of Cinnaminson, N.J., who was sentenced to 7 1/2 years prison in 1975 for heroin importation.
• Jerry Lynn Moldenhauer and Thomas Donald Moldenhauer of Colorado Springs, Colo., who each received three years probation in 1994 for selling migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
• Richard James Putney of Woodbridge, Va., who received one year of probation in 1996 for aiding and abetting the escape of a prisoner.
• Timothy Alfred Thone of Woodbury, Minn., who was sentenced in 1987 to two years probation for making a false statement to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to obtain a mortgage.
• Lonnie Edward Two Eagle Sr. of Parmelee, S.D., who was sentenced to two years probation in 1976 for misdemeanor simple assault on an Indian reservation.
Bush also commuted the sentence of Patricia Beckford of Portsmouth, Va., who since 1992 has been serving a 23-year prison sentence for conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine. Bush left intact a five-year term of probation.[Y]

SEE [y]
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_go_pr_wh/presidential_pardons


OH....GOOD CALL SUPREME COURT

A 2004 Michigan Supreme Court ruling could help prosecutors' case. Reversing more than 150 years of precedent, the court said prosecutors don't have to prove that a lie was material to a case.[g]

Posted here by Terry Bankert ...
http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference, http://www.michigandems.com/join.html


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[g]
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7411497
[T]
Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1725259,00.html?imw=Y
[b]
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7313516.stm
[d]
The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/METRO/803250442/1361

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