A Wayne County Circuit Judge sentenced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to four months in jail with no early release under the terms of a plea deal.
Kilpatrick pleaded guilty last month to two felony obstruction of justice charges stemming from his efforts to cover up an extramarital affair. He also pleaded no contest to charges of assaulting a police officer attempting to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend in that case.
Kilpatrick resigned from office last month after pleading guilty to charges resulting from a sex scandal.
He was accused of blocking a criminal investigation into his office and firing a police deputy to cover up an extramarital affair and other possible illicit activities.
After the deputy, Gary Brown, lost his job, a mayoral bodyguard, Officer Harold Nelthrope, left his job voluntarily when the atmosphere became too tense, said his attorney in the whistle-blower suit trial.
Walt Harris, another former mayoral bodyguard, filed his own whistle-blower suit, contending he was punished for supporting Nelthrope’s reports of wrongdoing by Kilpatrick and his bodyguards.
The city of Detroit paid $8.4 million to settle the lawsuits, but legal fees have pushed that figure to at least $9 million.
Prompted by the judge to recount his wrongdoing last month, Kilpatrick admitted, “I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit. … I did so with the intent to mislead the court and the jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice.”
Kilpatrick had faced eight felony counts. As part of a plea agreement, six counts related to misconduct in office were dropped, and a perjury count was changed to a second obstruction of justice charge.
Information from CNN.com contributed to this report.
