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.