DETROIT - Detroit's head prosecutor plans to put Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on trial regardless of whether he chooses to resign or remain in office.
Kilpatrick faced arraignment Tuesday on a dozen felony counts and has so far vowed to stay in office and fight charges, which include perjury and stem from the city's settling of a police whistle-blower lawsuit.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told the Detroit free Press there has been no indication that Kilpatrick will seek a plea deal and she would not drop the charges in exchange for his resignation.
"This is so vital to the justice system that we not turn a blind eye to this," she said. "Yes, perjury is not charged every day ... but the bottom line is this is out there, it was glaring, it's something that could not be ignored."
Meantime, the lawyer representing the family of a stripper who was killed after being linked to a rumored party involving Kilpatrick said the indictment of the mayor bolsters his case.
Norman Yatooma told the Detroit News that the fact Kilpatrick was charged with obstruction of justice adds credibility to the allegation that the mayor fired a deputy police chief who had been looking into the 2003 drive-by shooting death of dancer Tamara Greene.
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