DETROIT –– In a dramatic scene, a federal judge Monday afternoon ordered Kwame Kilpatrick and Bobby Ferguson off to jail pending their sentencing on public corruption charges.
After the ruling deputy U.S. Marshals approached the men, who both took off their suit jackets. They were then put in handcuffs. Kilpatrick popped something in his mouth, but it was unclear what it was.
U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds said it was a close call, but sided with the prosecutors who had argued that both Kilpatrick Ferguson be put behind bars pending sentencing. They argued that they were liars and cheats who had access to big money and violated court orders after their convictions in state court. Kilpatrick was convicted of lying during a deposition and in trial in state court. Ferguson was convicted in 2005 of pistol whipping an employee.
She noted Kilpatrick showed up to court and complied with all the pretrial conditions in federal court. But she said he had an incentive to show up to trial because he kept insisting he was innocent. She said that incentive to comply was no longer. She also said that Ferguson was someone who used intimidation.
Jim Thomas, Kilpatrick’s attorney, and Gerald Evelyn, Ferguson’s attorney, argued that they should remain free pending sentencing.
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