Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty have been charged with multiple felony counts, including perjury, by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
The charges stem from an investigation, following local media reports, into text messages exchanged between Beatty and Kilpatrick on government-issued pagers, suggesting an intimate relationship between the two.
Just last year, under oath, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having such a relationship during proceedings of a highly-publicized lawsuit filed by former Detroit police officers. The officers claimed they were wrongfully terminated, in part, to prevent the suspicious relationship with Beatty from being discovered. The court ruled in the officers' favor, resulting in a multi-million dollar settlement.
Adding to the city's political crisis, the Detroit City Council, last week, passed a non-binding resolution calling for the mayor to resign.
Dan Webb, Kilpatrick's lawyer, reacts to the charges and discusses the tense legal battle ahead.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAzMjM2NDYzMDEyMzc1Njk5NjAxNzY3OQ001))
