Judge Orders Evidence Kept Private In City Corruption Case
DETROIT (WWJ) - Prosecutors told a judge they have mounds of evidence against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the federal corruption case him, his father and several others.
The judge has ordered both sides to keep the text messages, tapped phone calls, audio and video tapes and bank statements private.
Will the public ever see any of it? WWJ spoke with Legal Analyst Charlie Langton.
"There's always leaks that happen. How reliable those leaks are is, I guess, a question," Langton said.
"I know that Judge Nancy Edmonds wants to keep this case as leak-proof as possible, and I think that the judge will use sanctions, if necessary, to make sure that no leaks come out. And, the big reason here is that we don't want to taint the jury," he said.
Kilpatrick and his father face a sweeping indictment that accuses them of taking kickbacks and bribes in exchange for city contracts.
Also named in the indictment are city contractor Bobby Ferguson, former Detroit Water and Sewerage Department director Victor Mercado, and Kipatrick's close friend and former aide, Derrick Miller.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for next month.
Meantime, Kilpatrick is currently serving a federal prison in Milan for violating probation in an unrelated state case. He could be paroled by summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
