Judge David Groner of Wayne County Circuit Court can determine whether Kwame Kilpatrick's book proceeds must go to the city, state Appeals Court judges ruled.
Groner had decided earlier that all book proceeds go toward the $860,000 Kilpatrick owes Detroit as part of a restitution order for a perjury conviction. Kilpatrick contested that as a violation of his constitutional free speech guaranteeA.
The disgraced ex-mayor may have waived his right to challenge that decision by telling the Associated Press in a 2011 prison interview that all his earnings from "Surrendered! The Rise, Fall and Revelation of Kwame Kilpatrick" would go toward restitution in his perjury case. The 287-page book was published in May as a $10 Kindle edition.
"Kilpatrick was quoted as stating, 'Any money that I make — any dime, any penny I make — will go to pay restitution,' " the three-judge appeals court panel wrote Wednesday. "If that quote is accurate, defendant has waived his objections to the order. . . . Because defendant has publicly stated that he is committed to make restitution, he should not be permitted to complain about a court order that facilitates that restitution."
Kilpatrick resigned in September 2008 and served 99 days in a state prison for lying about his affair with an aide, Christine Beatty. He's now on trial on 38 federal corruption charges.
