Decision on Detroit Mayor in 2 Weeks

DETROIT — A prosecutor said Wednesday she was delaying for another two weeks her decision on whether to file perjury charges against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said her office needs more time to investigate whether Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty lied under oath during a whistle-blowers' trial last summer when they denied having a romantic relationship.

Worthy had said earlier that she would release her decision around March 14.

"We stepped back from that date," she said Wednesday during a news conference on a separate issue. "It's just because we wanted to continue to be thorough and look at some other information we recently obtained."

She would not say what that information is or when her office received it.

The Detroit Free Press in January released excerpts of sexually explicit text messages that contradicted testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave during the whistle-blowers' lawsuit filed by former police officers.

Kilpatrick approved a confidential settlement of that lawsuit that cost city taxpayers $8.4 million. That agreement included references to the text messages left on Beatty's city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.

Worthy announced her investigation on Jan. 25 after the Free Press report.

Beatty resigned last month.

A perjury conviction could bring up to 15 years' imprisonment and force Kilpatrick out of the mayor's office.

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