Could President Obama hold the key to freedom for ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence?
Family and friends of Kilpatrick plan to ask Obama to pardon the ex-mayor and commute his sentence, Ross Jones reports at WXYZ. The ex-mayor’s brother-in-law Daniel Ferguson saysd he and others hope Obama will set Kilpatrick free.
Eight years ago, the political propects of Kilpatrick and Obama's were rising and they stood together in 2007 at the Detroit Economic Club, Jones recalls.
Additionally, people will be asking for a pardon for Kilpatrick’s co-defendant and good buddy, Bobby Ferguson, who was convicted in the same trial and is serving a 21-year sentence.
Presidents often pardon people before they leave office, and some pardons have been controversial over the years.
Pardoning Kilpatrick would be particularly controversial. While some might agree that the 28 year sentence was excessive, far fewer would argue that Kilpatrick was an innocent man.
-- Allan Lengel
