McPhail said McCargo and Copeland are "critical to the defense" of Kilpatrick and urged a stay in the proceedings. Granholm has said she lacks subpoena power to compel testimony, but McPhail urged her to reconsider.
"The fact is that the inability to compel the attendance of the witnesses is a serious, if not fatal, blow to the defense in the removal proceedings," she wrote.
5 lawyers won't testify at Kilpatrick's hearing
Mayor's counsel argues some are crucial to defense
BY ZACHARY GORCHOW • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • August 29, 2008
Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to continue with her removal hearing against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick even though lawyers who were part of the police whistle-blower suit at the heart of the text message scandal decided not to testify.
Five attorneys will not appear at the Wednesday removal hearing -- if it occurs, following a lawsuit the mayor's attorneys filed Thursday to block it.
Sharon McPhail, the Kilpatrick administration's general counsel, informed Granholm legal counsel Kelly Keenan in a letter released Thursday that Samuel McCargo, who represented the mayor in the lawsuit, and Wilson Copeland II, who represented the city, have advised her they will not testify at the hearing.
McPhail also told Keenan that John Johnson Jr., the head of the city's Law Department, does not plan to appear.
Meanwhile, City Council attorney Bill Goodman said he has been notified that William Mitchell III, a criminal attorney hired by the mayor after the whistle-blower trial, will not testify, nor will Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, who represented the city during the trial. She will be out of town, Goodman said he was told.
All five attorneys were on the mayor's and the council's witness lists.
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Kilpatrick
I still believe that much earlier in this process Kilpatrick could have arranged a sinecure for himself somewhere and walked away from this madness until the smoke cleared away and he could resurrect his reputation. Now it is far, far too late.
Gov. Granholm is a former
Gov. Granholm is a former michigan attorney general and a Harvard law graduate. It will be interesting to see what she does. She can be ruthless when it suits her.
"She can be ruthless when it
"She can be ruthless when it suits her."
Granholm has decided that Kilpatrick is a cancerous tumor on the body politic. Radical surgery seems to be the only appropriate course of action. Folks are not going to allow him to torpedo their careers or the chance for the Democrats to win this state in November.