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The Supreme Court has rejected former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick‘s appeal and will not review his corruption conviction. The High Court’s decision was announced on its order list without further comment.

Attorneys representing Kilpatrick’s case wanted the Supreme Court to take the appeal after a three-judge panel upheld the disgraced ex-Detroit mayor’s conviction on 24 counts, which included bribery, extortion, and fraud.

Kilpatrick’s attorneys argued he was wrongly forced to retain lawyers he no longer wanted. According to the former mayor’s legal team, these lawyers worked for a firm that was suing him on another matter.

Despite the Supreme Court rejecting the appeal, Kilpatrick could still challenge his conviction on constitutional grounds.

The 46-year-old remains in prison in El Reno, Oklahoma, and is serving a 28-year prison sentence. He is scheduled to be released in August of 2037.

During Tuesday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin and his panel of guests discussed the Supreme Court’s decision to not review the former Detroit mayor’s appeal, along with the High Court’s decision to vacate the conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

Lawyer A. Scott Bolden explained there are big differences in the cases of Kilpatrick and McDonnell. He said in the Kilpatrick case, the “conflict issue on that was waveable and resolved at the lower court level and at the trial court level.”

As for the McDonnell case, Bolden said, “The definition that triggers kickbacks and briberies – is it an official act and what is it?” He continued, “Setting up meetings for constituents and people who have given you money as an elected official is not an official government act — the court redefined what that is. It said they had to be specific, a decision, and had to be a government action of something pending or put before that elected official.”

The NewsOne Now panelist believes the court’s decision was the right one in both cases. Bolden later said, “Each of these decisions could be four-to-four easily, and yet it shows the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Watch Roland Martin, A. Scott Bolden, and the rest of the NewsOne Now panel discuss the Supreme Court’s decision on the Kilpatrick and McDonnell cases in the video clip above.

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

Subscribe to the NewsOne Now Audio Podcast on iTunes.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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