Mayor Faces New Criminal Charges

Detroit (WWJ)  -- For the second time this year, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick faces criminal charges.  Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced Friday morning that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will face assault charges in a shoving incident involving a Wayne County Sheriff deputy and Wayne County investigator.

The mayor faces two counts of assaulting or obstructing a police officer in the furtherance of their duties. Each felony count brings up to 2 years in prison or a fine of $2,000. 

Listen to Cox as he announced the new charges to the press: 

The mayor stood mute Friday as a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.  A judge has ordered him to pay 10-percent of a $25,000 bond

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The mayor already faces perjury, official misconduct and obstruction of justice charges stemming from his testimony in a civil trial last year.

Detective Brian White claims that last month when he and a colleague tried to deliver a subpoena to Bobby Ferguson, a friend of Kilpatrick, the mayor threw him into the other investigator.  White, who works for the Wayne County sheriff's office and is a lead investigator in Kilpatrick's perjury case, didn't fall but said he may have a slight hip fracture.

"In my almost 20 years, first as a prosecutor and now as an attorney general ... I cannot recall ever seeing let alone hearing of a situation where a police officer trying to serve a subpoena was assaulted,'' Attorney General Mike Cox said at a press conference to announce the charges.

Kilpatrick attorney Jim Thomas said the mayor would fight the charges.

"It's an allegation. Let's take it step by step,'' he said.

The mayor could be arraigned on the charges this afternoon in 36th District Court.  Cox said he could see no reason why the case couldn't proceed to trial within 90 days.

"This is a very simple case. It's not a matter of reviewing thousands of text messages,'' he said in reference to the other criminal case pending against the mayor.

Cox said talk of a plea bargain was "premature."

Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for more details.