DETROIT (AP) – A two-month-old text-messaging sex scandal will come to a head on Monday when a county prosecutor announces whether she intends to pursue perjury or other charges against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Monday to release the results of her investigation into testimony Kilpatrick and ex-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty gave last summer in a whistle-blowers’ trial.
Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath that they had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003. But that testimony was contradicted by published excerpts of sexually explicit text messages left on Beatty’s city-issued pager.
Worthy’s decision has been anticipated for weeks.
She announced an independent investigation shortly after the Detroit Free Press first reported the text messages in late January.
A conviction of lying under oath can bring up to 15 years’ imprisonment. Under Detroit’s charter, Kilpatrick would be removed as mayor if he is convicted of a felony.
Kilpatrick says he will be “vindicated” when all aspects of the scandal are made public.
“I will be politically vindicated, I will be legally vindicated and then people have the opportunity to look at what this city has done,” he said.