Judge allows Kilpatrick charges to stand

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DETROIT, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss charges against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father and a longtime friend.

Kilpatrick, Bernard Kilpatrick and Bobby Ferguson, a city contractor, are charged with bribery and corruption. Lawyers for the three defendants argued federal prosecutors have not made a case against them and asked for a judgment of acquittal.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, defense lawyers and prosecutors also worked out her instructions to the jury at the end of closing arguments, which are scheduled to begin Monday.

Edmunds said she will not tell the jury that Emma Bell, a former Kilpatrick fundraiser who testified that she brought him cash payments stuffed into her bra, was an alleged alcohol abuser.

The defense rested its case Wednesday after four day of testimony. Prosecutors presented 80 witnesses over several months of trial.

Kilpatrick has already served a short jail sentence for perjury and a longer state prison term for violating his probation.

A fourth defendant, Victor Mercado, former head of the Detroit water department, pleaded guilty during the trial.