Kym Worthy
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Monday that even if Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigned, it would not spare him a trial on criminal charges that threaten to send him from the mayoral Manoogian Mansion to a prison cell.
"I don't consider that to be a factor in which this case would be dismissed," Worthy told the Free Press in her first interview after stunning a city that wondered for two months whether its leader would become the first sitting Detroit mayor to be charged with a crime.
Seemingly unfazed by her moment in history, the Notre Dame University Law School graduate, former high-profile assistant prosecutor and onetime circuit judge said it does not appear Kilpatrick will seek a plea deal.
Would Worthy drop the charges in return for a mayoral pledge to resign? She replied without hesitation: "No. absolutely not. Simply by the mayor resigning and nothing else? No."
At a small conference table in her fastidiously kept office -- where a portrait of her father in his Army uniform shares wall space with her daughter's figure skating medals -- Worthy said her prosecution team is ready to take on Dan Webb, a nationally renowned defense attorney and former federal prosecutor from the Chicago area.
"We've got talented lawyers, too," Worthy said. "And just because we don't charge $700 an hour and just because we work for the government, doesn't mean we're not just as talented, if not more."
Worthy gained fame in 1992 for helping prosecute Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn, two Detroit cops found guilty of beating Malice Green to death during a traffic stop outside a crack house.
"I really think that the Nevers-Budzyn case was a bigger case for many reasons because of the time that it happened, because of what I think it gave people information about the justice system," Worthy said.
Referring to the 12 felony counts she brought against Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty, she added: "Certainly this is a major political figure that we did charge today, but I guess time is really going to tell about the impact that this case is going to have."
Worthy indicated that the case may not stop with her office's investigation, saying she would refer some information to U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy.
Asked whether Kilpatrick and Beatty provided inside information about city contracts to their friend, contractor Bobby Ferguson, the prosecutor said: "I can't speak on behalf of Steve Murphy, but what I can say is that I need to speak with him about some matters that we've uncovered."
Murphy declined to comment.
Facing re-election later this year against at least two opponents, Worthy said she did not let political considerations affect her judgment. Her only concern, she said, was sending a message that you can't lie under oath and get away with it.
"This is so vital to the justice system that we not turn a blind eye to this," she said. "Yes, perjury is not charged every day ... but the bottom line is this is out there, it was glaring, it's something that could not be ignored.
"And as I said before, there are 8.4 million reasons why we need to take a look at it and take a look at it seriously."
Worthy was referring to the $8.4 million Kilpatrick asked the city to pay three former cops in exchange for a promise to keep secret the text messages between the mayor and Beatty that the Free Press later revealed.
Worthy said she has all of Kilpatrick's text messages from 2002 -- when he took office -- to about 2007. She declined to say whether she has text messages for other members of Kilpatrick's administration. She said her office has seen at least four months worth of Beatty's text messages and has read some.
"I was a little surprised about what I was reading," Worthy said. "My surprise is more of a something that you don't see everyday. And being surprised that you would have something like that out here, especially given ... the nature of electronic communications."
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