Witness: Document may have been faked

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DETROIT, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A federal judge suspended testimony Tuesday in former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's trial after a witness suggested a defense document was fake.

The defense put the document into evidence in December. Lawyers objected Tuesday to testimony from Carol Paszkiewicz, an agent for the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing she is not an expert on document forgery, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The defense used the document to show Bobby Ferguson, a city contractor and longtime Kirkpatrick friend, did not need the mayor's help to get the job of repairing a large sinkhole in August 2004. The work log from Ferguson Enterprises appears to show the company was on the scene of the sinkhole within a day.

After Ferguson's lawyer objected to Paszkiewicz's testimony, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds excused jurors for the rest of the day.

Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard, Ferguson and Victor Mercado, former head of the city water department, are charged with bribery and corruption.