They had two City of Detroit appointees testify at his trial; Sharon McPhail and Kizzi Montgomery. Both of them said that Kilpatrick never asked them for a penny.
However, they did say that the staff organized themselves and got their boss a present for his birthday on two occasions over 7 years. There was no “shakedown”! Both were asked a direct question about being shaken down…and both answered the same;
“IT NEVER HAPPENED. I WAS NEVER PRESSED BY THE MAYOR TO DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!”
Its city folklore, and so sexy for the whole Mob boss/Gangster narrative.
Additionally, the government touted that Bernard Kilpatrick (Kwame Kilpatrick’s father) charged $10,000 for a sit-down with Kwame.
There was not a single witness, nor issue, nor charge, nor conviction regarding this claim. Bernard Kilpatrick was dragged into this case to force Kwame Kilpatrick to accept a plea deal. Kilpatrick was told by government lawyers that if he plead guilty and took 25 years in prison, they would let his father go.
When Kilpatrick didn’t plea, they charged his father with RICO, EXTORTION, BRIBERY, and all sorts of other crimes…knowing that he was uninvolved in any of it all-together. In a 6-month trial, Bernard Kilpatrick was the subject of the discourse and witness testimony on 6 trial days.
That’s it. The Detroit Papers ran an article with the headline; “Why is Bernard Kilpatrick in the Courtroom!” Bernard Kilpatrick was found Not-Guilty of all of those charges and found guilty of One of his counts; Filing a False Tax Return.
In a completely unrelated issue to the others in the trial, Kilpatrick took money out of his own 401(k) Retirement Fund and didn’t report it on his taxes. Nothing to do with the trial, nor the trial issues. The IRS overwhelmingly fines individuals in this position…but the trial judge gave Bernard Kilpatrick a 15-months prison sentence.
This was the very first time Bernard Kilpatrick was ever involved with the criminal justice system in his life. He was 74-years old when he was sentenced to prison.
There was not a single issue in the case involving Bernard Kilpatrick charging $10,000 for a meeting with his son.