Claiming prejudicial testimony from federal agents who testified during his trial, ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate his public corruption conviction and 28-year prison sentence, reports The Detroit News. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions last year.
A response from the court is due on February 19, the report says.
Per The News:
A Supreme Court appeal is the former mayor’s last legal hope after a panel of 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in October refused his bid to have the full court hear his appeal to one of the longest corruption sentences in U.S. history.
Kilpatrick was convicted of using his position as mayor of Detroit and state House representative to execute a wide-ranging racketeering conspiracy involving extortion, bribery and fraud. He and Bobby Ferguson, a former city contractor, were found guilty of running a criminal enterprise out of the mayoral office in a five-month trial in 2013.
Both men have sought to overturn their convictions, alleging prejudicial testimony from federal agents during the trial. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed both convictions last year.
The court’s decision in the case of Ferguson, his co-defendant, does not bode well for Kilpatrick. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Ferguson, the report says, “denying him the chance to ask the justices to overturn his public corruption conviction that sent him to prison for 21 years.”
SOURCE: The Detroit News | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty | VIDEO CREDIT: Inform
SEE ALSO:
Kwame Kilpatrick Indicted On Federal Corruption Charges
Kwame Kilpatrick Accused Of Spending $1K On Strippers While In Office
