Detroit ex-Mayor Kilpatrick faces trial on charges that could lead to years in prison
DETROIT - Opening statements are next in the corruption trial of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick after a judge refused to move the case out of town.
Kilpatrick is accused of collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, kickbacks and other favours. He was forced out of office in 2008 in a different scandal involving obstruction of justice and sexually explicit text messages.
The trial opens Friday. Defence lawyers claimed intense media coverage could be too much for the jury, but Judge Nancy Edmunds says the trial stays in Detroit.
Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard, and two others are charged with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes.
