Kilpatrick Family Still 'Hoping And Praying' For Presidential Pardon
DETROIT (WWJ) - President Barack Obama plans on issuing more pardons and commutations this week — and the family of a former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is holding out hope.
Bernard Kilpatrick, Kwame Kilpatrick's father, said Wednesday that he's waiting by the phone to see if the president will reach out to him.
The elder Kilpatrick didn't want to go on tape, but told WWJ Newsradio 950's Charlie Langton that the family is "hoping and praying" Obama will grant clemency for his son's 28-year federal prison sentence on a 2013 racketeering, bribery, extortion and tax crimes conviction.
Langton said, while he believes the president will not do anything for the incarcerated ex-mayor, Obama does have a few options.
First, a full pardon — which would grant forgiveness for the crime, as if it had never happened. But Bernard Kilpatrick believes Obama more likely would choose to commute, or reduce, the sentence to time served.
Currently, Kwame Kilpatrick is scheduled to be released in 2037 when he's 67 years old. Some supporters believe he didn't get a fair trial, while others say 28 years is simply more time than he deserves for his crimes.
President Obama has become the president to have granted the most commutations, and he's likely to be asked about that when he holds his final news conference as POTUS on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Obama commuted the sentences of 273 people, including Chelsea Manning — the transgender Army intelligence officer who leaked more than 700,000 U.S. documents.
The White House says there will be more commutations on Thursday.
It should be noted that there is no indication Obama is considering the Kilpatrick case.
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