When former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick returns from Texas on Friday for arraignment on criminal probation violation charges, he will face far more accusations than missing a single restitution payment.
Wayne County prosecutors Tuesday were ordered by Circuit Judge David Groner to assist Michigan Department of Corrections authorities in expanding the single charge recommended by agents overseeing Kilpatrick's probation to include numerous alleged violations revealed during six days of recent hearings on Kilpatrick's finances.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's spokeswoman, Maria Miller, declined to provide details, but legal experts say the charges could include perjury and fraud.
"We are prepared to proceed on Friday," Miller said. "We have assisted the probation department in their preparation of the warrant. The allegations will be contained in that petition."
With the charges broadened beyond Kilpatrick's failure to meet a deadline last week to pay $79,000 toward the $1 million restitution in the text message scandal, his lawyers' efforts to get the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn Groner's recent restitution orders will likely have no impact on the coming proceedings, said Curt Benson, professor at Cooley School of Law. The higher court is likely to focus only on Kilpatrick's complaint that the judge overstepped his authority in ordering him to make more than $300,000 in accelerated restitution payments, because he determined Kilpatrick hid assets from the court.
The Court of Appeals agreed to consider Kilpatrick's appeal, but only after receiving transcripts of the lengthy restitution hearings. Groner's court reporter has almost a month to prepare the transcripts. The appeals court refused to delay payment deadlines. The first deadline, for $79,011, passed last Friday. The second, for $240,000, comes in April.
Late Tuesday, Kilpatrick's attorneys filed papers asking the court to reconsider its decision denying an emergency stay.
"Mr. Kilpatrick has a real problem. Those restitution hearings revealed a lot," Benson said. "Not the least of which was Judge Groner making a finding that Kilpatrick fraudulently conveyed about a quarter of a million dollars to his wife. That's three serious issues right there: He hid money; he committed an independent act of fraudulently conveying the funds to someone else; and then he committed perjury when he lied about it when he testified."
The judge has wide latitude in responses to probation violations, ranging from jail to further restriction of Kilpatrick's freedom, including an order to return to live in Michigan. Kilpatrick has lived for more than a year in a Dallas suburb, where he is paid $120,000 a year as a salesman for Covisint.
Groner said Tuesday he will set a date for hearings that could become another mini trial. Or Groner could simply rely on the record established during the lengthy restitution hearings.
The judge said Kilpatrick's voluntary cooperation in reporting is likely to result in the setting of bond for his continued freedom.
Beverly Smith, area manager for Corrections, gave Groner a draft report Tuesday that included a request for an arrest warrant.
When Assistant Prosecutor Robert Spada complained in court that the warrant should also contain a "litany" of other violations, Groner ordered prosecutors and probation authorities to work together on an expanded warrant.
Groner also expressed wonder that Kilpatrick himself wasn't watching the court proceedings being broadcast live from the courtroom on the Internet. "You're telling me your client isn't even watching this to see what his fate is going to be?"
Benson said, "Clearly the judge is losing patience. Judges are accustomed to people playing the system and they will take it only for so long. What is happening here isn't unusual; only the amount of money and the profiles to the people are higher."
Source: http://detnews.com/article/20100224/METRO01/2240341#ixzz0gTVWj3SW