Kilpatrick seeks release for family time

DETROIT, March 19 (UPI) -- Lawyers representing Kwame Kilpatrick asked the former Detroit mayor be allowed to go to Texas to visit his children while he awaits sentencing.

Kilpatrick, convicted of federal racketeering and extortion charges March 11, has been held at the federal prison in Milan, Mich., since then. His lawyers argue the former mayor is not a flight risk because he has no money, The Detroit News reported. Kilpatrick's sentencing has not yet been scheduled but could be up to four months away.

Kilpatrick's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, offered up her 3,340-square-foot home, worth $183,000, as collateral to ensure her son's return to face sentencing, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.

"He has no funds with which to flee," Kilpatrick's lawyer, James C. Thomas, wrote Monday.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said she would await a response from the U.S. attorney's office before deciding the matter.