DETROIT – People across Metro Detroit have different opinions on former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s prison sentence.
Some felt 28 years was too long and others felt like the punishment fit the crime.
UPDATE: US releases former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from prison
When Kilpatrick rose to the office of mayor, it was absolutely electric. He was lively, youthful, flashy, bold, energetic and magnetic. The so-called hip-hop mayor with the big diamond in his ear and his beautiful family. His opinion of Detroit was contagious, it could be felt in the neighborhoods and a coming commerce.
In the days of COVID, it’s difficult to go out and take the pulse of the people on the commutation of Kilpatrick’s 28 year sentence to 7 years.
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There was talk that Kwame could have been Governor or even President. He was smart, charismatic and magnetic. When the dirt began to rise to the surface, the pay-to-play atmosphere, the rumors, the innuendo and the betrayal of his own family and city, it was painful for Detroit. It was Robin Hood stealing from his own band of merry citizens. It was devastating.
The city was split between those who were angry at the waste of potential and those who were seemingly not angry.
You can watch Paula Tutman’s full story in the video above.