Former Detroit mayor released from jail - not "bitter" at city
Good news. Detroit ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is not bitter.
The disgraced ex-mayor was released from jail last night, and although he didn't speak to the press, his attorney told reporters Kilpatrick wasn't "bitter" over the jail sentence stemming from an embarrassing sex scandal.
Kilpatrick was caught trying to cover up an affair he had with his former chief of staff. He pleaded guilty to two felony charges of perjury and no contest to a felony assault charge and stayed 99 days in jail.
Of the $9 million he cost the city as a result of the scandal (or as the Detroit Free Press figured - the equivalent of 126 police officers' salaries), he has to pay back a little over 10 percent of it.
Although Kilpatrick doesn't have a job, he was able to obtain legal representation -- and not a public defender either. His lawyer is Willie Gary, a Florida attorney who only charges $11,000 an hour. And this was his fee two years ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Now Kilpatrick is off to Texas where he apparently has a job lined up.
These are some tough times. But, according to Gary, Kilpatrick's going to be OK.
“The former mayor. … He wishes the city well, all of the people well. … There are no hard feelings," Gary said.
