Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Arraignment Blog

"Not guilty"

2008-03-25T18:00:00Z

Mayor Kilpatrick ducked in a back door. He should have come through the front because there are a lot of supporters here in the hallway. Anyway, he plead "not guilty."

"Wrong is wrong"

2008-03-25T17:50:00Z

Lenora Harness thinks the Mayor has got to go. "Wrong is wrong," says the Highland resident.
She isn't here at the courthouse for this case, but is here for a meeting. She believes the Mayor purjured himself. And the law is the law.
"We're just the little people," she says. "He's high up there and should know better."

Shirley Burch, a life-long Detroiter

2008-03-25T17:42:00Z

    Shirley Burch has been in the city for 40 years and hailes from Birmingham, Alabama. She works with kids and believes her work is "molding them to be stable, to be educated and become what they want to be."
    She supports the Mayor because she says he has improved the city for kids, likes the ferris wheel on the riverfront park.
    "A lot of people don't know what is going on in Detroit because there is so much focus on the negative," she says.

hey, hey , ho, ho

2008-03-25T17:35:00Z

About 30 protestors are marching in a circle across the street chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Kwame Kilpatrick has got to go."
The mayor still hasn't showed yet, and it's 1:41.

No outlet for blog

2008-03-25T17:32:00Z

You'd think the metal detectors would be sufficient security, but the guards here at 36-D roam the hall and make sure folks like your's truly are doing what they should. We keep getting kicked away from the one outlet that will keep this computer running. So, if for some reason we disappear, that's why.

Speculating on Text Messages

2008-03-25T17:25:00Z

Wilbert Chew is a bail bondsman. He is waiting on the Mayor to get here too. Not that he has anything to do with Kilpatrick's case. He is waiting for a client's case to be heard in the same courtroom. His case will go after the judge arraigns the Mayor. Until that happens, Chew chats and speculates about the Mayor's case. He wonders if the text messages will get tossed at trial or will the judge allow Worthy to admit them as evidence. We'll see.

Not here yet

2008-03-25T17:24:00Z

Still waiting on the Mayor.

"Political game"

2008-03-25T17:20:00Z

Patricia Carter loves the mayor. "He's doing a great job. He's taken the city farther and he's super smart." As for Worthy's charges, she says, "Seem like a political game."

Public denied entry

2008-03-25T17:14:00Z

The public is not allowed in the courtroom, only the media. Criminal defense attorneys Ray Paige and David Dunn, who have nothing to do with this case, but often work in this building, came to hear the proceedings. "It's a historical day," says Paige. "A sad day for the city of Detroit."
Dunn agrees and had hoped to follow the case at each stage.

No Mayor yet

2008-03-25T17:10:00Z

It's 1:10pm and we are still waiting for the Mayor to show. We'll let you know when we see him.

"I love the mayor."

2008-03-25T17:07:00Z

Abdul Muhamad, 59, came to Detroit from Mississippi in 1968, He says he faced the same racism here he did down south. But he loves the city and Mayor Kilpatrick.
"I'd die for that man," says Muhamad. He says he also feels bad for Gary Brown and Harold Neltrhope, but doesn't blame the mayor for what happened to them.

Supporters turn out

2008-03-25T16:28:00Z

A number of citizens are hanging around the courhouse, mayor supporter and Detroit resident Aisha Bowen says, "I feel like he is being lynched." She says of the media, "I know you've picked out the tree. You've done everything, but get the rope."

Courthouse Circus

2008-03-25T16:15:00Z

With just 45 minutes to go until the scheduled arraignment of Kwame Kilpatrick the courthouse is buzzing with anticipation.

Outside picketers are gathered, letting their feelings be known.