Jan 21, 2021
DETROIT (AP) President Donald Trump on Wednesday cleared the way for the release of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has served more than seven years of a 28-year prison sentence for a series of corruption crimes.
The announcement came in a flurry of clemency action in the final hours of Trump’s White House term that benefited more than 140 people, including rappers, former members of Congress and other Trump allies.
The White House said prominent members of the Detroit community had supported the 50-year-old Democrat’s commutation and noted: “During his incarceration, Mr. Kilpatrick has taught public speaking classes and has led Bible Study groups with his fellow inmates.”
Kwame Kilpatrick (Photo: Twitter) Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is now officially an ex-inmate. Less than 24 hours after the White House commuted his 28-year federal prison sentence, Kilpatrick joined his family in Georgia, the Detroit Free Press reports, citing a relative and the Associated Press. He s definitely out. He s home and with his family, Daniel Ferguson, Kilpatrick s former brother-in-law and longtime family friend, told Tresa Baldas of the paper Wednesday night. A Bureau of Prisons spokesman confirmed to AP that the 50-year-old former Detroiter is free. Kilpatrick, imprisoned ion 2013 for official corruption, returned to his family in Atlanta around dinner time, Ferguson said.
LANSING – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick s crimes were reprehensible, but the 28-year prison sentence he received was disproportionate to what others have received. People can decide for themselves if this is a just outcome, but I do think that when justice is not equal, it is not justice, Whitmer told Fox 2 Detroit on Thursday.
Whitmer was reacting to former President Donald Trump s Tuesday announcement that he had commuted Kilpatrick s sentence, which resulted in Kilpatrick being released Wednesday from federal prison after serving less than eight years.
Kilpatrick, 50, had been fighting for his release for years, arguing he was wrongfully convicted on numerous corruption charges in 2013, forced to go to trial with an attorney he didn t want and railroaded by what his lawyers described as an overzealous government. He lost all appeals.
Joe Exotic is currently serving 22-years in prison for plotting to kill his nemesis, animal rights activist
Carole Baskin.
He was hoping for a presidential pardon this week from
Donald Trump. That didn’t happen, so he’s taking aim at Trump and his son. In a Tweet on Wednesday Joe Exotic wrote, “I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump.”
“I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post,” he added. “Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first,” he continued, a possible reference to his legal team and supporters.
Lil Wayne returned with a new single on Thursday (January 21), just two days after receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump during his final day in office.
Released on Young Money Records, “Ain’t Got Time” features an appearance from Fousheé, who’s known for her voice on Sleepy Hallow’s “Deep End Freestyle.” On the track, Weezy pays tribute to the late Juice WRLD following his 2019 death and includes a reference to his private jet getting searched.
“They raided my private plane,” Wayne raps. “I went got one that’s more privater/R.I.P. Juice WRLD, wrote that on two cups/Pour out a lil juice for him/Shit gave me goosebumps/N-gga been through too much/Lookin’ in the rearview to see the future.”