Kwame Kilpatrick Verdict; Former Detroit Mayor Found Guilty in Corruption Trial [VIDEO]
Former mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty on Monday from corruption charges that included federal racketeering.
The 42-year-old politician was elected in 2001 and resigned from office in the fall of 2008 after allegedly taking bribes and living beyond the means of his mayoral position, according to USA Today.
The list of charges that Kilpatrick was found guilty of includes extortion, racketeering, bribery, and mail and tax fraud. He was convicted on 24 of the total 30 counts. On three counts he was found not guilty, and on three no verdict was reached.
Kilpatrick was portrayed during the five-mouth trail by the prosecution as an unscrupulous politician who broke the law to keep himself living extravagantly during his time as a mayor of Detroit.
It was a tough deliberation for the 12-member jury that reportedly spent around two weeks and over 79 hours working on the verdict.
Kilpatrick was not the only person who was found guilty in connection to the racketeering charges as his friend Bobby Ferguson, a city contractor, was also convicted of the crime.
The former mayor's father Bernard was also put on trial for charges of a racketeering conspiracy, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict. He was also acquitted on another tax charge and an attempted extortion charge.
Both Ferguson and Mayor Kilpatrick currently face 20 years of prison time for their dual convictions, according to The Detroit Free Press.
The case ends one of the biggest public corruption probes the city of Detroit has faced in decades, according to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing who issued a statement about the verdict at the end of the trail.
"I am pleased that this long trial has ended and we can finally put this negative chapter in Detroit's history behind us," Bing said, according to The Huffington Post. "It is time for all of us to move forward with a renewed commitment to transparency and high ethical standards in our city government."