Kwame Kilpatrick

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of multiple counts of racketeering and extortion, a jury decided Monday. Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 charges, including racketeering, extortion, attempted extortion, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Both Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson were found guilty on most counts. Kilpatrick’s 71-year-old father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was only found guilty of one tax count.

Jurors deliberated for 15 days before announcing that they were ready to vote on a verdict. The 12 members of this jury have spent 79 hours total deliberating all the details from the five-month trial.

All three men maintained stoic exteriors as the verdicts were read over seven minutes’ time. The former Detroit mayor was convicted of 24 out of 30 total charges. Contractor Bobby Ferguson was convicted of nine out of 11 total counts. The jury reached a unanimous decision on 45 of 50 total felony charges levied by prosecutors.

A bond hearing for all three men will take place this afternoon. According to the Detroit Free Press, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will ask that the three men will be detained while the appeal process occurs. Sentencing will likely not occur for several months.

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