DETROIT (WXYZ) — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will remain in federal prison after a federal appeals court denied his motion.
Kilpatrick argued that Judge Nancy Edmunds was "biased" and claimed that the judge had a personal and professional relationship with James Thomas, who is Kilpatrick's former lawyer. He said the judge should have recused herself because during a pretrial conference, his attorney said, "Thank you for the lovely card for my wedding. My wife and I truly loved it." and the judge responded with, "You are welcome, Jim."
The former mayor said it prevented him from receiving a fair trial.
His appeal was denied.
The appeals court order said: "Because merely sending a wedding card is not “of a specifically intimate degree to induce a reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts to conclude that [the judge’s] impartiality could be reasonably questioned,” this claim does not deserve encouragement to proceed further."
Kilpatrick is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence.
