" 'I'm out!,' " said the person on the other line.
It was Bobby Ferguson, the longtime friend of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who had just been released from prison 10 years early, thanks to a federal judge who granted him compassionate release.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds concluded it wasn't fair to keep Ferguson locked up given that Kilpatrick was freed after then-President Donald Trump commuted the ex-mayor's 28-year sentence in January. She also took into account Ferguson's health and vulnerability to contracting COVID-19 behind bars, where he had been sentenced to serve 21 years.
Rataj, one of three lawyers who argued for Ferguson's release, said his client was not only thrilled — he was humbled.