Like a swallow returning to Capistrano or a pilgrim to Mecca, serial defendant Bobby Ferguson is due back in federal court downtown on Sept. 10 for a criminal retrial on bid-rigging accusations.
Bobby Ferguson is a serial defendant.
The date is nearly a year after the start of the public corruption trial that ended with him and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick getting convicted on 31 counts combined, reports Tresa Baldas, who covered that 2012 case daily for the Free Press.
This next legal battle will be Ferguson’s third trial in just over a year — a fact that Ferguson cited in asking for a court-appointed lawyer this go-around, arguing he can’t afford a private attorney because the last two trials drained him financially and the government seized all his assets.
His first trial on bid-rigging charges ended in a mistrial last June due to a hung jury.
The second case, a massive corruption trial that lasted five months, ended with him and Kilpatrick getting convicted of racketeering, extortion and bribery — crimes that could send both men to prison for up to 20 years each, possibly more.
His third legal battle, the retrial, involves allegations that he and two associates rigged bids on a nearly $12-million contract for a low-income housing project so that Ferguson’s firm would win the deal, which it did. Ferguson has denied any wrongdoing, arguing he won the contract fair and square.
He's represented now by Michael Rataj, one of three private attorneys who defended Ferguson last year.
