Would President Obama Pardon Detroit’s Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick?


Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is serving a 28-year prison sentence for what The Detroit Free Press called “one of the biggest public corruption cases in Detroit’s history.” Kwame Kilpatrick was indicted in 2010 and charged with running illegal business through the mayor’s office along with Bernard Kilpatrick, Kwame’s father; Bobby Ferguson, Kwame’s old friend; and Victor Mercado, the former director of the water department.

Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of the 30 federal corruption charges that included bribery, extortion, and racketeering. Before the scandal, Obama and Kilpatrick stood together in 2007 at the Detroit Economic Club when President Obama, who was still a Senator at that point, said to Detroit, “I want to first of all acknowledge your great mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. We know that he is going to be doing astounding things for many years to come.”

The bright future didn’t pan out for Kilpatrick, given the federal crimes he was convicted of, but Kwame’s family hopes that Obama will use his presidential pardoning power to set the former Detroit mayor free. Kilpatrick’s brother-in-law, Daniel Ferguson, confirmed to the media that the former mayor’s supporters are asking President Obama to pardon the ex-mayor of Detroit and his old pal, Bobby Ferguson.

Deadline Detroit said that if Obama honored the request and pardoned Kilpatrick, the president would find himself facing a great amount of controversy. The mere idea of a presidential pardon for the former mayor has newsfeeds in Michigan all stirred up.

In February, Huffington Post highlighted the majority opinion of the former mayor since his conviction.

“Before Kilpatrick’s criminal activities came to light, he was known as a young and enthusiastic public figure, sometimes contentious but well-liked enough to get elected twice. Now, he’s widely reviled for a text message scandal that landed him a perjury conviction, running city hall like a criminal enterprise and bilking the city of $20 million, the Detroit Free Press determined, an amount that didn’t singularly cause the city’s bankruptcy but certainly played a role in its financial struggles.”

Daniel Ferguson claims that Kwame Kilpatrick never got a fair trial and that the ex-mayors supporters hope to start a letter-writing campaign to the White House. How will you feel if they successfully persuade President Obama to grant Kwame Kilpatrick a presidential pardon.

[Photo via WXYZ on YouTube]

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