DETROIT, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's father was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison in a case linked to Detroit City Hall corruption.
Bernard Kilpatrick, 72, took money but did no work for contractors who had been strong-armed by the mayor, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said. The judge said a prison term was required to send a message corruption would not be tolerated, the Detroit News reported.
Evidence at trial included FBI undercover videotape showing him pocketing a $2,500 bribe from a contractor.
The elder Kilpatrick also was ordered to pay $62,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Edmunds said she would recommend Kilpatrick serve his time in a federal prison in Texas.
Prosecutors had asked for a three-year sentence. Kilpatrick's lawyer, John Shea, had asked for probation or a minimum sentence, pointing out that he has no criminal history and was convicted on a single tax charge, the Detroit Free Press reported. Shea also said Kilpatrick is too old for prison life.
"I have brought misery on my family. ... I messed up," Kilpatrick said before his sentencing. "No question about it."
Earlier this month, Edmunds gave former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick the sentence requested by prosecutors -- 28 years behind bars.
Edmunds said the evidence was overwhelming that Kilpatrick and his longtime friend, Bobby Ferguson, a contractor for the city, defrauded Detroit in a bid-rigging and kickback scheme.
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