Kwame Kilpatrick photo from Michigan Department of Corrections.
There's a big disparity between the prosecution and defense as to what kind of sentence ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick deserves.
The government on Thursday filed a sentencing memorandum asking for at least 28 years. Kilpatrick's attorneys Margaret Sind Raben and Harold Gurewitz filed a response late Friday, saying Kilpatrick should not get more than 15 years in prison.
Kilpatrick, 43, is scheduled to be sentenced this Thursday at 10 a.m.
The gap involves recommended sentencing guidelines, which are based on a calculation that includes criminal history and how much money was stolen or given in bribes. The government claims that Kilpatrick's friend and co-defendant Bobby Ferguson earned $9.6 million in profits that was shared with Kilpatrick.
The defense, in its filing, argues:
"There was no evidence that Defendant received this amount of extorted money from Mr. Ferguson, there was no evidence that Defendant knew how much Mr. Ferguson was seeking or receiving from the city vendors, there was no evidence presented at trial that this $9+ million amount represents Mr.Ferguson’s “profits...and there is no evidence that 10% (or any percentage) was reasonably foreseeable to Defendant Kilpatrick."
Mr. Kilpatrick objects to the use of 10%, or any percentage within the range of 10-71% as the factor to attribute any portion of what are described as Mr. Ferguson’s “profits”, to Mr. Kilpatrick.
The defense also says his criminal history is "overstated."
Defendant asks this Court to determine that his criminal history score overstates the seriousness of Defendant’s prior criminal history.
Defendant asks this Court, after considering all of Defendant’s Objections and Arguments, to impose a sentence of not more than 180 months.
The government has asked that Ferguson receive up to 28 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
Sentences for public corruption have seemed to increase in recent years. In 2009, ex-New Orleans Congressman William Jefferson drew 13 years for public corruption, the harshest term ever given to a congressman. In 2011, ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Last year, Ohio’s ex-Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora got 28 years.
