Ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Convicted In Corruption Case

Clink goes the jailhouse door for the former mayor of Detroit.

Kwame M. Kilpatrick, the fallen face of politics in Motor City, was found guilty today (3/11) of a range of charges, including corruption and fraud, at the completion of a five-month trial.

Jurors reached consensus on 40 of the 45 charges leveled against Mr. Kilpatrick and his co-defendants, the judge in the trial said. The verdicts brought to a close a trial in which prosecutors laid out a complex case against Mr. Kilpatrick and his co-defendants — including his own father, Bernard, and a city contractor, Bobby W. Ferguson — arguing that they had used the mayor's office to enrich themselves for years through shakedowns, kickbacks and bid-rigging schemes.

There's a reason why they say no one man should have all that power, no?

Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Kilpatrick were convicted of racketeering and extortion, while his father was convicted on a tax charge.

Elected mayor of Detroit in 2001, Kwame Kilpatrick was the youngest person, at 31, to hold that position in the city's history. Many saw him as a bright, shining star of progress within the Democratic Party, who was destined to lift Detroit out of economic hardship and then go on to become a prime force within the ranks of national politics.

Instead, Kilpatrick's tenure as mayor was plagued by scandalous endeavors that cut his career short. He was soon fighting rumors about partying, questions about the use of city money to lease a luxury vehicle for his wife, and claims that he fired police officers for investigating his sizable staff of bodyguards.

Props: Huffington Post