Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Thursday was sentenced to 28 years in prison after being convicted in March of two dozen federal charges, which included racketeering, extortion, and the filing of false tax returns. Prosecutors said that he used the mayor's office to enrich himself and associates, CNN and Fox News reported.
"I say with every morsel of my being that I'm sorry to you," Kilpatrick apologized before being sentenced.
"I respect the jury's verdict. I think your honor knows I disagree with it," he added.
While Judge Nancy G. Edmunds acknowledged his apology, saying that while he was showing "more aware than I have seen along the way, a long prison sentence is necessary to insulate the public from his behavior. That way of business is over. We're done. We're moving forward."
Kilpatrick had been Detroit's mayor from 2002 until resigning in 2008. He was considered the biggest target of a long corruption investigation involving City Hall, which led to the convictions of two dozen people, most notably former City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, the wife of U.S. Representative John Conyers.
In September 2008, the ex-mayor pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice stemming from his efforts to cover up an extramarital affair. He also pleaded no contest to charges of assaulting a police officer.
Kilpatrick was running a criminal enterprise while mayor, seeking to enrich himself through bid rigging and extortion, news reports said.
The judge indicated that Kilpatrick did not deserve all the blame for Detroit's bankruptcy, which was announced this year, but the loss of public's trust as mayor remained at the crux of his wrongdoings.
During his trial, prosecutors said that he presided over a breathtaking profit machine that turned City Hall into 'Kilpatrick Incorporated."
