DETROIT, June 24 (UPI) -- The Michigan Parole Board Friday voted to release former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, 13 months after he was imprisoned for violating probation.
Kilpatrick, 41, had been sentenced to at least 18 months -- and as much as five years -- in prison for hiding assets rather than using them to make restitution to the city. He had been ordered to pay $1 million in restirution as part of a 2008 plea agreement in a case arising from a text messaging scandal.
Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan told the Detroit Free Press he did not know when Kilpatrick will be released but he said the former mayor must remain in prison until July 24 to complete the minimum sentence imposed by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner.
Meantime, Kilpatrick has conceded that "in a way, I did" betray Detroit. In an interview with Don Diva magazine -- a publication whose main demographics are prison inmates and the hip-hop community -- he also said he had been unfairly treated the press, prosecution and a judge, The Detroit News reported Friday.
"The people of Detroit have been through so much. The economy is bad. There are excessive job losses, and they are depressed," Kilpatrick said. "Many think one of their favorite sons betrayed them. In a way, I did but it is not how the media is portraying it to be."
Kilpatrick accused Groner of "performing for the media every time we were in court."
Kilpatrick faces fraud, tax evasion, racketeering, extortion and bribery charges that could carry punishments of up to 30 years, the newspaper said.
