Jury asks for exhibits during deliberations in corruption case

DETROIT (WXYZ) - The Kilpatrick corruption case jury is due back in court on Wednesday for their second day of deliberations.

This comes as the 7 Action News team has learned that the jury did ask to see several exhibits on Tuesday.

For Kwame Kilpatrick and his co-defendants all they can do is wait--their fate lies in the hands of 12 people--eight women and four men, who officially started deliberating at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday. 

“This is the worst part of the whole process, is the waiting game.  And, there’s not much we can do, it’s a helpless feeling in some ways because we’ve done everything that we can do.  And there’s nothing more that we can do for our clients,” said Bobby Ferguson’s lawyer, Mike Rataj.  Rataj says all of the attorneys in the case have to stay close to the courthouse in case the jury alerts the judge in writing that they have a question.

“They have a lot of stuff to go through. They all took notes during the course of the last 5 months, and I’m sure they’ve got to go thru their notes and have a conversation about that.  Then of course there’s literally I would say close to 1000 exhibits,” said Rataj.

Detroit’s former mayor, his father Bernard Kilpatrick, and Ferguson are charged with racketeering and extortion – accused of running a criminal enterprise out of city hall.  The jury must render verdicts on 38 different counts.

Rataj says during deliberations – lawyers do their best to counsel their clients, but all you can really do is wait.

“Bobby Ferguson’s a spiritual guy… he’s a strong guy, he certainly doesn’t need me to keep him focused, he’s a focused guy.  I’m not worried about Bobby,” said Rataj.

Of course, the 7 Action News Investigators will be here to let you know as soon as the verdict comes in.