DETROIT (WXYZ) - Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy held a news conference following Tuesday's sentencing of Christine Beatty.
WATCH KYM WORTHY'S ENTIRE PRESS CONFERENCE IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ON THE RIGHTWorthy began by thanking the prosecuting attorneys and her staff for their hard work in the case.
She is pleased with the outcome and says that both Beatty and former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick have had justice served upon them.
"You cannot kill the truth and you cannot kill justice", said Worthy during the news conference.
She explained that both Kilpatrick and Beatty have cost the city of Detroit millions of dollars and hopes that the city will now move forward and thrive.
Kwame Kilpatrick's former chief of staff was sentenced to serve 120 days in jail for her role in the text messaging scandal. She will also serve 5 years probation and pay $100,000 in restitution.
Detroit's former mayor is behind bars serving out a 4-month jail term.
Both Kilpatrick and Beatty were charged, convicted and sentenced for lying under oath during the whistle blower lawsuit.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF WORTHY'S NEWS CONFERENCE BELOW
"There were a lot of things that happened in this case that just did not make sense and probably never will and maybe that is why Mark Twain once said, “No wonder truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.”
Truth is always the best vindication and in my opinion there is no greater weapon than truth. When the truth is on your side you don’t have to constantly go around explain why you are right.
I stood before you last March and told you that:
• We would prove the charges that we leveled against both Defendants Kilpatrick and Beatty and that is exactly what we have done. Both defendants have now been convicted, sentenced and both are now in jail.
• I told you that this case in essence was about the violation of the public trust.
• I told you that lives were ruined because these defendants chose to use Gary Brown, Harold Nelthorpe and Walter Harris as pawns for their own selfish reasons and dragged the City and eventually the Region down with them.
We said this in March and they this in September and December respectively. They are now in jail because they committed crimes and admitted it.
This office handles over 80,000 cases per year. All of our cases are important, whether or not someone thinks they are newsworthy. Clearly, this was a case that had great direct ramifications to many more people than most of our cases do because of who the defendants were and what positions they held. Public officials have a responsibility to live their lives with honesty and integrity to honor the sacrifices of those who came before us. We must follow the law like everyone else – because if public officials don’t, who in the world will.
It has been said that these defendants were among the best and the brightest. There is a Latin saying, “Corruptio optimi pessima.” Corruption of the best is the worst of all. That is what makes this case all the more tragic. There was a time in the not too distant past when we were trusted more than we are now.
• Remember when we were not the laughingstock of the world?
• Remember when we were not almost daily fodder for late night comedians?
• Remember when “Sex, Lies and Videotapes” was just a provocative movie?
I don’t think I am overstating things to say that because of these two defendants:
• Detroit as it was will not be missed.
• Detroit as it was would not do.
• Detroit as it should be didn’t exist and was but a memory.
And I hope that Detroit will cease to be no town and will become a thriving Motown once again.
My office was attacked on many occasions for our prosecution of this case. “Our case has gone to hell, etc.” one person was fond of saying. I was personally attacked on occasions too numerous to mention. Some were mildly amusing, some not so funny, some quite frightening. Some were so far beyond the pale that one had to wonder why it appeared that the tail was wagging the dog. Why a seeming cottage industry was being made trying to destroy those simply doing their jobs.
But at the end of the day, I hope that the lesson learned by some despite these cowardly and pitiful acts was that the important principle here was the case, not the person trying the case. And if this prosecution has taught nothing else, I hope that it has taught us that right is right and wrong is wrong, that trying to cover up that wrong is even worse and it can be expensive. That justice cannot be bought, sold, processed, packaged, passed out on the street, intimidated or embarrassed away – at least not in this County with this Prosecutor. You cannot kill the truth and you cannot kill justice. It is a shame of great proportions that in last years’ time of seemingly universal deceit but these two convicted felons that telling the truth and seeking truth became a revolutionary act.
Detroit and this Region will be better, I think, because of this. No one is perfect. We all have issues at one time or another, but I sincerely hope that as a result of this prosecution:
• The truth will no longer be relegated to the back of the bus.
• Telling the truth will no longer be out of style.
• And that if anyone else is considering perjury, obstruction of justice and breaching the public trust that they will let the experience of the Kilpatrick and Beatty case be a lesson.
It is not new information that some of the original attorneys representing defendant Kilpatrick sought to prevent the public dissimilation of any text messages sent on publicly funded paging devices. They also made requests for us to return the text messages to the defendants after a plea, attempting to prevent the release of any additional text messages.
But what is new and what I am revealing for the first time today is that this office was asked to ultimately destroy them to keep the public from getting access to them.
I have been involved in the calling of criminal justice for a very long time – first as an Assistant Prosecutor, then a Circuit Court Judge and now as the elected Prosecutor of Wayne County. I was shocked that some of the former Kilpatrick lawyers would believe that I would agree to such a request. How could they believe this office would agree to that type of behavior and thinking that got us here in the first place. This prosecution was based entirely on transparency and accountability of public officials. The City of Detroit paid out millions of dollars because those principles were not followed or even contemplated by these defendants. Have we not learned anything from their conduct?
One of the best shows that was ever on TV was the West Wing. In season 4, fictional President Jeb Bartlet was censored by Congress for failing to tell the American Public that he has a disease. We can find out the lesson of the Kilpatrick/Beatty case in some of his dialog at the end of the one episode where his staff was being an apologetic for his behavior, he says:
“I was wrong. Everyone knows that. Lots of times people can blur the line and don’t know what wrong and right is. But this one time we clearly knew. There were many opportunities to make it right. No one in government takes responsibility for anything anymore. We foster. We obfuscate. We rationalize. Everybody does it. That’s what we say. So we come to occupy a more safehouse. Everyone is to blame so no one is guilty. I am to blame. I was wrong.”
Words like that would have been nice to hear from either of these defendants – instead – “y’all done set me up for a come back.” Words like that may have gone a long way to letting Gary Brown, Harold Nelthorpe, Walter Harris, this office and the citizens of this Region know that truth, justice, honesty, integrity and taking personal responsibility matter when you have wreaked havoc, broken the law, abused the public trust and stomped on Lady Justice.
Our children have questioned what they learned in kindergarten and now is the time and today is the day to let them know that those lessons were genuine and will have long lasting effects on their character. Today is the day to let them know that Lady Justice will always rise and metaphorically so will this Region, like that mythical, magical phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes."
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