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Spivey owes $8,000 in taxes on his home in Detroit's East English Village.
These are not good times for Detroit Councilmember Andre Spivey.
Spivey, facing possible foreclosure on his home, made his initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in Detroit in handcuffs on a bribery charge stemming from allegations he and a staff member accepted $35,000 from 2016-20 in exchange for possible council votes. Spivey stood mute and entered a not-guilty plea, The Detroit News reports. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
Spivey has been charged with a criminal "information," which in the federal system means he's waived his right to a grand jury proceeding and is expected to plead guilty.
His lawyer Elliott Hall tells Deadline Detroit Wednesday that if it comes down to a plea, he hopes Spivey is allowed to finish his term, which runs through December.
Additionally, he said a plea would hopefully result in a light sentence like the one ex-Detroit Councilman Gabe Leland got earlier this year. The feds initially charged Leland with bribery in 2018, but later switched his case to state court where he pleaded guilty to a lesser felony charge of misconduct in office for accepting a cash contribution. He got 2.5 years of probation.
Leland stepped down from council after his plea. Michigan law prohibits a convicted felon from holding state or local office. Spivey's felony charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Hall said it would look bad for the feds if Leland, who is white, got probation while Spivey, who is Black, got prison time. "They don't want to deal with a situation" like that, he said.
Halls said his client has been cooperating with the feds and they'll go to trial if necessary. But he's hopeful a deal can be worked out. He said the $35,000 Spivey received was from a friend and nothing was promised in exchange. The feds also charged that he took $1,000 in cash in October 2018 from an undercover FBI agent.
Hall said Spivey is attending law school at Wayne State University and wants to practice with a firm, The News reports.
Asked how his criminal case might affect those plans, Spivey's attorney answered, "Well, a lot of lawyers have been suspended for a period of time, and reinstated. So we've got to go through that process, if in fact, a guilty plea is going to be entered, or if he goes to a jury trial. And if he's found not guilty, of course, that deals with that issue."
The paper also uncovered $90,000 in tax liens against Spivey in the last six years. The report does not specify what those taxes stem from.
Additonally, his house may be facing foreclosure over separate unpaid 2018 property taxes. He's lapsed on his bills the past three years and owes approximately $8,000 on the east side home. The Wayne County Treasurer's Office would not tell The News whether he was on a payment plan, but it does not appear he is, based on the records.
Violet Ikonomova contributed to this report.
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