by
Violet Ikonomova
Bobby Ferguson
They were friends who received two of the longest sentences ever handed down for public corruption, but today Bobby Ferguson is a free man, three months after his co-defendant, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, was granted clemency by outgoing President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds opened the cell door for Ferguson on Thursday, after he served seven years of his 21-year sentence at a federal prison in eastern Ohio. Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years.
"It would be inequitable for the defendant to complete the lengthy sentence originally imposed while the more culpable co-defendant who had received an even lengthier sentence, has been released," Edmunds wrote in her release order.