Judge: No more Kilpatrick text messages to be released

The Detroit News

Detroit -- A Wayne County Circuit judge said Thursday he will not release any further messages between former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-chief-of-staff.

"This court found no examples of possible illegal activities unrelated to the firing of police officers investigating Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Ms. Christine Beatty" that should be released, Wayne Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. said in a letter to The Detroit News after reviewing thousands of the text messages.

In July, the judge accepted an agreement between the city, and The News and Detroit Free Press that called for him to receive and review volumes of previously unreleased messages sent on city-issued text message pagers to and from Kilpatrick, Beatty and others during eight, two-week periods between June 1, 2002, and Feb. 16, 2006.

In exchange for the city's release of the messages to the judge, the papers agreed to drop their long-standing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the city.

Colombo ruled over the objections of lawyers representing Kilpatrick and Beatty. Previously released messages showed their clients lied under oath.

Kilpatrick admitted to lying about a relationship with Beatty and whether he knew former officer Gary Brown was investigating the activities of the mayor's staff prior to his firing. Brown and former Officer Harold Nelthrope filed the case in 2003. After a jury found on behalf of the officers and granted them a $6.5 million settlement, attorneys for the mayor and the city negotiated an $8.4 million settlement -- a deal that included a secret pact to hide the damaging text messages.