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Kwame Kilpatrick loses another appeal to get out of federal prison

Kwame Kilpatrick loses another appeal to get out of federal prison
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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.