Detroit Mayor Thrown in Jail After Bond Violation

DETROIT — Mayor Kilpatrick was jailed yesterday for a bond violation in his perjury case, his pleas for leniency rejected by a judge who made it clear the mayor would get no special treatment.

Mr. Kilpatrick, charged with perjury and other felonies over his testimony in a civil trial, apologized and acknowledged that he made a mistake when he visited Windsor, Ontario, minutes away from Detroit, for city business last month. But District Judge Ronald Giles was not moved, saying he needed to treat the mayor like any other defendant.

"What matters to me ... is how the court overall is perceived and how if it was not Kwame Kilpatrick sitting in that seat, if it was John Six-Pack sitting in that seat, what would I do? And that answer is simple," Judge Giles said.

It was a stunning outcome, exceeding even what prosecutors had sought. And it came two days after Mr. Kilpatrick's mother, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, survived a Democratic primary election that was dominated by her son's legal woes.

Mr. Kilpatrick said he dashed to Windsor to discuss the sale of Detroit's share of a tunnel between America and Canada, a deal proposed as a way to fill a hole in the city's budget.

"We got the deal back on track. ... It wasn't a spur of the moment, willy-nilly, I can frolic in Canada" trip, Mr. Kilpatrick said.

Told he must go to jail, Mr. Kilpatrick stood up and, accompanied by a courtroom deputy, walked through a doorway behind Judge Giles's chair. He was not handcuffed.