Disgraced ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who lived the good life on the outside, is getting a federally court-appointed attorney after pleading poverty Tuesday during his arraignment on federal corruption charges in Detroit, the Detroit News reported.
The News reported that Kilpatrick, clad in a jail suit, said “that is correct” when U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer asked if he couldn’t afford to hire an attorney.
The Detroit Free Press reported that Federal Defenders Office made one of Kilpatrick’s attorneys James Thomas, the court-appointed attorneys. Thomas is a well-known defense lawyer who has appeared in many high profile cases in U.S. District Court in Detroit over the years.
Thomas, who was in court, told the judge Kilpatrick has no funds, the News reported.
Kilpatrick is currently serving a state prison term for violating probation and hiding assets that should have went to help pay $1 million in restitution to the city. He had served a jail term for lying on the stand during a whistleblower lawsuit in state court.
The latest charges in federal court include allegations that he spent money donated to the Kilpatrick Civic Fund on travel, yoga lessons and other personal expenses.
