DETROIT, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, facing a racketeering trial in September, told journalists he cannot get a fair trial in his city.
He has been demonized as the source of Detroit's problems and the city is "too emotionally charged" to seat an unbiased jury, Kilpatrick told a gathering of 125 journalists in a 2-hour interview at a meeting of the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, The Detroit News reported Friday.
The interview came weeks before Kilpatrick, his father Bernard, city contractor Bobby Ferguson and former city water chief Victor Mercado are scheduled to be tried on federal bribery and corruption charges, the newspaper noted.
"I know people are mad at me. I absolutely, 100 percent, let those people down. I apologize for it," Kilpatrick said, but added he has become a scapegoat for all the city's problems.
"I'd be better off if you just take me down and hang me from that fist downtown," he said, a reference to the Joe Louis memorial in downtown Detroit.
