AP
- Three lawyers are refusing to testify at next week’s proceedings by Michigan’s governor that could lead to the ouster of Detroit’s mayor, Kwame M. Kilpatrick.
Mr. Kilpatrick’s lawyer, Sharon McPhail, said the refusals could harm the mayor’s ability to defend himself.
She urged Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm to delay the proceedings, press the witnesses to testify or seek subpoena power to compel them to do so.
“The inability to compel the attendance of the witnesses is a serious if not fatal blow to the defense in the removal proceedings,” Ms. McPhail said in a letter to the governor’s legal adviser, Kelly Keenan.
Mr. Kilpatrick’s political future is threatened not only by the proceedings, but also by felony charges that he lied under oath about his affair with his chief of staff and assaulted investigators.
The issue came up on Thursday during a conference call intended to iron out the procedures for the removal proceedings, which are to begin Wednesday. According to a lawyer for the Detroit City Council, William Goodman, who participated in the call, Ms. Keenan said in effect: “You’ll have to do the best you can. We don’t have subpoena power. There’s no argument about that.”
Although it has no power to do so, the City Council wants Mr. Kilpatrick, 38, removed from office, saying he misled it into approving an $8.4 million settlement with police whistle-blowers to conceal steamy text messages with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Governor Granholm will decide if Mr. Kilpatrick concealed the link between those messages and the settlement.
Two of the lawyers, Sam McCargo and Wilson Copeland, had roles in the civil case. A third, John Johnson, is a city attorney.
Mr. Kilpatrick faces 10 felony counts in separate perjury and assault cases in Wayne County Circuit Court.
The first case stems from his and Ms. Beatty’s sworn denials during the 2007 whistle-blowers’ trial that they had an affair, testimony that was contradicted by text messages from Ms. Beatty’s city-issued pager. The other charges stem from accusations that Mr. Kilpatrick shoved one prosecutor’s investigator into another in July as they were trying to serve a friend of the mayor with a subpoena in the perjury case.
On Wednesday, a former lawyer for Mr. Kilpatrick, William Moffitt of Alexandria, Va., filed a lawsuit against the mayor claiming he owes Mr. Moffitt about $80,000 in fees stemming from his work after Mr. Kilpatrick’s text-message scandal surfaced.
A mayoral spokesman said it was unfortunate that Mr. Moffitt decided to air an administrative issue publicly.
