Detroit’s Kwame Kilpartick released from prison

At 12:35 a.m. Tuesday morning, Detroit‘s former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, 38-year-old, strolled out of the Wayne County Jail. He said nothing to reporters as he was whisked into a Chevy Suburban. The former mayor spent 99 days in an isolated cell.

"He’s upbeat. He’s not bitter. He has grown. … He wants to get on with his life," said Kilpatrick’s newest attorney, Willie Gary of Florida. Gary said he was retained by Kilpatrick about two weeks ago to pursue any "civil remedies" the former mayor may have for "violation of some of the rules" that occurred in the past year in the text message scandal that toppled his administration. Gary was not specific, but the ex-mayor and his legal team had argued the text messages used against in him in court may have been illegally obtained.

The former mayor was accompanied by Gary and his local criminal attorney, James C. Thomas. Kilpatrick appeared to have lost a lot of weight and was wearing a suit and tie.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty last fall to two counts of obstruction of justice and no contest to a felony charge of assaulting a court officer. The scandal involved allegations Kilpatrick had an affair with his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, fired cops whose investigation threatened to expose it, lied during a civil trial and engineered a settlement to cover up text messages that exposed those lies. Christine Beatty is serving 120 days in jail.

Last week, Wayne Circuit Judge David Groner granted Kilpatrick permission to leave the state in search of employment.

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