Detroit Mayoral Scandal. Owes Lawyers 750k has $6.0 in bank account

January 6, 2009 | Macomb, Michigan | Vetting explained

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Last updated: January 6, 2009

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For texting afficionados. Here is a link to a very very funny bumper sticker, mostly in text language about the story http://www.zazzle.com/detroit_mayoral_texting_scandal_and_cost_of_lawyer_bumpersticker-128873612540371212?rf=238185890915282397 'Detroit Mayoral Texting TABOOMA Scandal TANSTAAFL ^URS IMAO CMF (LAWYERS) CRDTCHK QL' end of text message Story Read this in the Detroit News today... Judge: 'Lying in court has a price tag'; Beatty sentenced to 120 days in jail

Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Christine Beatty "misused" her many talents when she participated in a text-message cover-up with former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that hid the details of their affair and ultimately cost the city millions of dollars, Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny said this morning as he sent Beatty to jail for four months. Kenny, on the bench in Beatty's sentencing, honored a plea-bargain agreement calling for 120 days in jail, five years probation and payment of $100,000 restitution to the city. She also cannot attend or get credit for law school classes during that time. "I do think this case does represent the triumph of truth over political power and might," Kenny said. It also proved that "lying in court has a price tag, even for those who are the politically elite within the community." When the public trust has been abused, there needs to be punishment," Kenny said. Beatty, 38, declined an opportunity to address the court. She is to be taken directly from the sentencing in a sixth-floor courtroom at Frank Murphy Hall of Justice to the neighboring Wayne County Jail. Beatty resigned as Kilpatrick's chief of staff last January when copies of messages from city-owned text pagers revealed she and Kilpatrick lied to cover-up their 2003 extramarital affair. The cover-up started after officers within the Detroit Police Department began investigating allegations of impropriety among Kilpatrick's bodyguards and inner circle. An $8.4 million settlement of the lawsuits included a secret side deal to hush the existence of the more than 10,000 text messages. The messages eventually were disclosed in the media. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy followed with an investigation of her own that obtained copies of more than 600,000 texts. Kenny said the case wasn't like the Monica Lewinsky scandal that dogged former President Clinton. Instead, he said, "this case is about ... where two honorable police officers had their lives tuned inside out to cover up an affair." "In the end, the taxpayers of Detroit were handed a bill for $8.4 million by Mr. Kilpatrick," Kenny said. Beatty was charged in March with perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. She struck the plea deal with prosecutors on Dec. 1 to avoid going to trial after contesting the charges with legal arguments over the admissibility the text messages. Kenny had indicated he was going to allow most of the messages at a trial that was set to start Monday. Kilpatrick, 38, made a similar plea deal in September. He was sentenced on Oct. 28 to 120 days in jail, five years probation and $1 million in restitution. He also turned in his law license and is prohibited from holding elected office while on probation. Kilpatrick is due to be released from jail early next month. Beatty is likely to be released in mid-April. In remarks before Kenny handed down the statement, assistant prosecutor Robert Spada questioned whether Beatty will have the ability to pay off her restitution because of her lack of income and huge bills. She owes $1,200 a month for an SUV, $2,400 for her mortgage, $1,000 a month to retire old debts, $617 a month in student loans and more than $200 a month for a $4,381 rug she bought in December 2007. She also owes her attorneys nearly $750,000. She has $6 in her checking account, Spada said. "There is no argument that she doesn't have anything," conceded her attorney, Mayer "Mike" Morganroth. Worthy has said she continues to investigate possible wrongdoing by others revealed in the text messages, but Beatty's sentencing ends any new text message related prosecution of her and Kilpatrick. Worthy has said she planned to reveal more details about her investigation after today's sentencing. Federal authorities also have an ongoing investigation of city contracting during the Kilpatrick administration. +You can reach Doug Guthrie at (313) 222-2548 or http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-175860/#.+ Link:http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090106/METRO/901060401 Photo with posting from Detroit News (Brandy Baker) -

From Wikipedia: Christine Rowland Beatty was (born May 1970) and served as the Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2008 to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. In January 2008, Beatty resigned amid an emerging political-sex scandal and criminal charges of perjury related to a whistleblower trial for lying under oath about their extramarital affair and that they sought to mislead jurors when they testified that they did not fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown. Kilpatrick has already pleaded guilty September 4, 2008 to two felony obstruction of justice charges, and was sentenced to four months in prison on October 28, 2008. She was offered several plea bargains from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy~~one for as little as 150 days of prison time~~but she has refused.^1^ Beatty was a respondent in a $25,000 settled slander lawsuit initiated by two other police officers. On December 1, 2008 Beatty admitted lying under oath and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. She will begin serving the sentence on January 5, 2009. Personal life Beatty, who was born Christine L. Rowland, graduated from Cass Tech High School and was voted its "most-popular student" in 1988 and was a Majorette.^2^ She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Howard University and a master's degree from Wayne State University.^3^ She married Lou Beatty and they have two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 2006. Beatty recently dropped out as a law s Beatty was named in a slander lawsuit along with Kwame Kilpatrick and police chief Ella Bully-Cummings brought about by two police officers that claimed to have been slandered in the media by the trio.^4^ The lawsuit stems from a 2004 incident in which the two police officers pulled Beatty over for speeding. Beatty was irate at being stopped and bluntly asked the officers, "Do you know who the fuck I am?" when the officers came to the vehicle. ^4^ While stopped, Beatty called Police Chief Bully-Cummings to have the officers called off, which the officers allege they were ordered to do. When reports of the incident started to surface in the media, Beatty, Kilpatrick, and Bully-Cummings all claimed that the traffic stop was some type of "set-up" to harass Beatty.^5^ The parties in the law suit entered into mediation which recommended a settlement of $25,000 which was rejected twice by the Detroit City Council.^6^ The attorney for the officers said "The mayor has been exposed and I may want more money for my clients now," after it was revealed through text messages that Kilpatrick and Beatty were involved in a sexual relationship that both denied under oath.^5^ The lawsuit was settled for $25,000 and the attorney for the officers said of the officers,"They don't want to be embroiled in this whole text messaging scandal exchanged between Beatty and Kilpatrick on their city issued SkyTel pagers between September-October 2002 and April-May 2003. The dates are of importance because they encompass the time periods of the alleged Manoogian Mansion party and the ouster of Gary Brown respectively.^7^ Beatty and Kilpatrick, both married to other people at the time, did discuss city business. However, many of the series of messages described not a professional relationship but an extramarital sexual relationship between the two, often in graphic detail which included Ms. Beatty's desire to give Kwame some "good head" and his acceptance of that offer. The text messages further described their use of city funds to arrange romantic getaways, their fears of being caught by the mayor's police protection unit, and evidence the pair conspired to fire Detroit Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown.^7^ In an August 2007 trial, Kilpatrick and Beatty both denied that they had a sexual relationship or that they fired Brown while under oath. Beatty resigned as mayoral chief of staff stating "I believe that it is clear I can no longer effectively carry out the duties of chief of staff."^2^ She did not indicate if she would resign from her position of the Detroit Medical Center board of directors. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy began an investigation of perjury charges after the Detroit Free Press revealed the existence of text messages which supported allegations that Kilpatrick and Beatty lied under oath about an extramarital affair during a lawsuit brought by Detroit police officers.^9^ The investigation ended with Beatty being charged with seven felonies consisting of perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice. The charges carry a maximum sentence of five to fifteen years On December 1, 2008, Beatty admitted lying under oath and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. She will also be on probation for five years and, during that time, will have to reimburse the city of Detroit $100,000, if she is capable of doing so. On January 5, 2009 she will begin her sentence at the Wayne County Jail.^10^

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