Kwame Kilpatrick (Deadline Detroit photo)
He's the Energizer Bunny of federal inmates. Kilpatrick, serving 28 years for public corruption, hasn't run out of energy in his bid to be free man.
He's asking U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds to vacate his racketeering conviction and set aside the 2013 sentence, writing in a court motion filed last week that "there was no 'pay to play,' nor any evidence to suggest it," Robert Snell of the Detroit News reports. The U.S. Supreme Court a year ago rejected Kilpatrick's request to toss his case.
That decision doesn't bar Detroit's ex-mayor, lodged at a federal prison in Oklahoma, from returning to the sentencing judge to make this latest request.
"You get a second bite at the apple to challenge your conviction. How far it goes, we will see," says Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor.
Unfortunately for Kilpatrick, 47, Judge Edmunds didn't seem to show much fondness or sympathy for him during sentencing on Oct. 10, 2013. She gave him 28 years, one of the harsher sentences in U.S. history for a public corruption case involving a public official.
"A man with the charisma and ability of Mr. Kilpatrick chose to use his talents on personal aggrandizement and enrichment when he had the potential to do so much for the city," Edmunds said at sentencing.
Kilpatrick's motion says:
At trial, several of (defendant's) subordinates testified that he may have asked them to attend a meeting,or make a phone call. Not a single one of (defendant's) subordinates gave testimony that he expected them to do anything other than that. There was no ‘pay to play,’ nor any evidence to suggest it.
The theater surrounding the trial, and the misinformation and wrong instructions given to the jury, created an environment of unfairness and injustice. (Defendant) did not receive a fair trial, and was convicted of activities that were not unlawful.
Kilpatrick also cites other issues that he previously brought up in his appeal, and claims "there was no economic loss to the city of Detroit, nor any entity or person(s) related to this case."
Judge Edmund didn't buy that the first time.
