Kilpatrick Defense Plans Continue Amid Plea Talks, His Lawyer Says

Detroit Free Press

Aug. 29--Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's chief attorney said today that while settlement negotiations have taken place in the mayor's criminal case, he and Kilpatrick's legal team haven't given up on the mayor's defense.

In recent days, as sources have described intensifying plea negotiations, an atmosphere has taken hold in Detroit and the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center that a plea deal, along with Kilpatrick's subsequent ouster as mayor, is imminent.

"We are going to vigorously fight this," Dan Webb, the high-powered Chicago-based attorney heading the mayor's legal defense, told the Free Press. "The first day I was out here, I said in my view this man was elected mayor of Detroit by the people of Detroit. He should not resign or be removed from office."

Webb said he opposed the governor's planned removal hearing as a means to get Kilpatrick out of office.

"He's got a right, a basic constitutional, fundamental right to his day in court," Webb said. "I haven't changed my position on that and nor has the mayor."

Webb wouldn't discuss the specifics of settlement negotiations. In recent days, sources have said the main hang-up is the matter of jail time for Kilpatrick.

"Every case I've ever had, there are always discussions about resolution, and this case is no exception," he said. "There have been discussions about resolving this case."

Webb said he agreed with the statement that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy issued this morning saying that news reports regarding the status of settlements talks have contained inaccuracies. But he denied anyone from the mayor's team had been responsible for leaking information.

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